Valkyrie
by Vyrexuviel
Summary: More than three decades after Captain Janeway was abducted by the Borg at the very moment she got the crew of Voyager home, one ex-drone can take it no more. J7 AND B7 content, so be warned!
1. Chapter 1 : Initiation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer:

This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the timeperiod on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned! Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

The USS Rhode Island sped through space, on approach to a new, as yet uncharted system in the space between two of the galaxy's spiral arms where stars are few and far between. The great ship sped through the interstellar space with speed and grace.

The captain was less graceful than his ship as he slumped down in the command chair. Commander Hargraves glanced at Captain Harry Kim, veteran of the legendary Voyager, now captain of a Nova-class vessel on a mission of exploration. The ship was humming smoothly along and Captain Kim was about to rise from his chair when Ensign Silay at Ops called out, "Sir, we're picking up a warp signature." The ensign paused for a moment, earning a glance from the captain.

"Well? Who is it? Anyone we've met yet?"

"Y-yes sir," the ensign swallowed. "It's Borg."

Harry was on his feet in an instant. "Red Alert! Raise shields, bring weapons online, deploy armor, and notify Starfleet. Onscreen, Ensign."

As the alarm started sounding and the Lieutenant at tactical carried out his orders, the viewscreen changed. At first, Harry couldn't see anything and he ordered the screen to magnify. There! There it was, at the center of the screen, a tiny ship...Ship? The object was too small to be a shuttle.

"Must be a probe of some kind. Lay in an intercept course and engage, Lieutenant Gaveria. Let's see what this thing is. Ensign Silay, continuous scans, let's not miss anything."

As the lieutenant nodded and changed course, the ensign at Ops called out, "Sir, it's changing course, angling away from us and accelerating."

Kim gritted his teeth. "It's spotted us. Full speed, Lt. Gaveria, let's catch it before it enters transwarp."

The lieutenant at Tactical frowned. "I detect no evidence of a transwarp drive on that... whatever it is.

The Ensign looked very puzzled. "It's accelerating in standard warp, but it's putting out an unbelievably strong warp field for a probe that size--50 cochranes and rising."

Kim's eyebrows rise at the figure. "That fast? Well, I know a certain half-Klingon who'd kill to get her hands on a drive that powerful."

Lt Gaveria spoke at that moment, "Sir, it's passed Warp 9 and is still accelerating, reaching Warp 9.5 now."

"Stay with it, Lieutenant, I want to capture that thing before it gets out of range." The lieutenant nodded and pushed the ship harder.

Ensign Silay at Ops called out the thing's speed, "Warp 9.8. 9.9. 9.91, 9.92, 9.93. Shit, this thing is fast." The ensign's colorful language caused the captain to give him a Look, reminiscent of the Force 10 glare Captain Janeway was fond of using on him when he did something stupid.

"I'm loosing it!" Gaveria was cut off by Engineering, stating that the ship can't hold this speed for very long.

"Are we in weapons range yet, Lieutenant?"

"Not yet sir, and that thing is accelerating too fast for us to catch up."

"Very well, power down. It's gone." Kim sat once more, sighing and steepling his fingers as he watched the Borg whatever-it-was vanish from the viewscreen. "Contact Starfleet, let them know what we found. Append your sensor logs, Ensign--"

He was cut off by the Ensign's startled cry, "Sir! It's coming back!"

Kim looked up, surprised, watching the pinprick on the screen grow slowly. "Magnify."

This time, he got a good look at the whatever it was. And what he saw caused him and the Commander to rise.

"What in all the hells is that?" he whispered.

The figure was humanoid┘Mostly. Gleaming black body plates covered it everywhere, lighted by emerald-green telltales. But, what caught the eye was the pair of huge wings extending from the back of the human-sized figure. Now hovering in space in front of the ship, the wings were slightly spread behind the figure, its glowing-green eyes eerie in the deep black of the Ever-night. Ensign Silay glanced to his control as a tone sounded. "Sir, it's hailing."

"Open a channel."

The image of the floating figure vanished, replaced by a close-up of a face. A very familiar face. Kim felt his jaw drop and eyes widen as he beheld a face he thought lost 30 years ago, "S-seven? Is it really you?"

The gleaming swirl of metal above her left eye rose as the woman coldly gazed at him, her ice-blue eyes unreadable. "Captain Kim."

"Seven, how--We thought you were dead!" The captain blurted out, grinning widely at the woman he had once loved.

"As I had wished it."

That took the wind out of Kim's sails, and he slumped, "Wished it? Why Seven? Why would you abandon us, make us think you were dead?"

"I... I did not wish to be reminded of my humanity." She seemed on the verge of saying something else, and then glanced aside. When she looked back, her face was cold and forbidding. "If you wish, I will allow you to beam down to my compound."

Kim nodded. "I'd like that very much, Seven. You realize I have to report this to Starfleet."

Seven gave a quick nod. "Proceed to these coordinates. Only you may beam down." With her typical abruptness, Seven cut the channel.

Kim smiled slightly at that, and then glanced at Silay, who nodded. "Lay in a course, Gaveria, Warp 7."

He glanced up at the figure on the screen, watching it turn, and the wings fold back into the configuration of a diving hawk. With a blur of motion and a flare of green light, the figure streaked off. Ponderously, the USS Rhode Island changed course to follow.

"I wonder what she's been up to these past thirty years," Captain Kim thought.

* * *

The familiar blue glow of a transporter announced the captain's arrival. He looked around, amazed at the home-like appearance of his friend's compound. True, it had metal floors and chairs and was rather small, but still, it looked like someone had lived here for a long time. A soft clank caught his attention and he turned, spotting Seven standing in a doorway, her customary at-ease position seeming familiar. What wasn't familiar were the silver streaks in her short hair, the gleaming swirl where once she had a protruding implant, and the similar swirl along her right jawline. The fine lines on her face betrayed the passage of years, but she seemed as fit and healthy as ever. Instead of the ubiquitous biosuits she used to wear on Voyager, she was clothed in tight fitting black denim jeans and a black tanktop, contrasting sharply with her pale skin. She stepped forward and gestured for him to sit, leaning slightly against the countertop and murmuring something to the replicator.

"What beverage do you require, Captain Kim?" Her implant arched slightly at him.

"Tea would be alright. And call me Harry, Seven," he smiled at her.

Her cold glance killed his smile as she turned back and ordered his tea, handing him the glass as she took a sip of her own drink.

"So. Why did you leave, Seven?" he broke off as Seven grimaced.

"Do not use that designation. I am now Annika."

Harry hesitated a bit, and then nodded. "Alright, Annika. Why did you leave?"

She paused a moment before saying, "I required time to deal with my emotions after Chakotay's death."

Harry nodded, remembering how the woman had withdrawn from her work at Utopia Planetia with B'Elanna designing new engines while the half-Klingon's husband Tom Paris test flew the new ships. "I remember. You spent some time with Tuvok on Vulcan, didn't you?"

Seven-no, Annika nodded. "I attempted to find clarity by purging my emotions. I was unsuccessful. I came here to do what I could do to rectify my situation."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at her quizzically. "Rectify? What do you mean?"

"I have been working on miniaturizing a warp core. I have succeeded, and intend to...rescue the Captain." With that tone of voice, Harry instinctively felt she meant Captain Janeway.

"Rescue? She...Well, she died, Sev--Annika," he hastily corrected himself at her glare, "She was in that Borg sphere when the conduit collapsed and crushed it."

"No, she wasn't. I've heard her thoughts."

That simple statement took Kim's breath away. "She...She's alive? Where? How? And God in heaven WHY?"

"She is held captive by the Borg Queen. I have found a way to access the Queen's thoughts without her realizing I have done so. I sense her pleasure at tormenting Janeway." Kim glanced down at this admission, realizing how it must be for Annika to be powerless while sensing the captain in torment. He noticed that Annika's fist was clenched so tight that the knuckles were white.

"I...What can I do to help, Annika?" he glanced up again, determination in his eyes.

Annika seemed rather put out by his question, but after a moment's hesitation, replied, "If you could contact B'Elanna and ask her to come here to assist me, I would be grateful." Her voice was still cold, but her tone was less harsh than when she hailed him on board his ship.

Kim nodded and smiled a bit at Annika. "That suit of yours really took us by surprise. This is the far side of Federation space from the Borg; we weren't expecting a Borg warp signature out here."

Annika's eyes seemed to soften slightly, but the rest of her face remained impassive. "I chose this system because it had the properties I required; solitude and numerous small asteroids in orbit around a pulsar."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Why is the Pulsar important?"

"I intend to open a wormhole back to the Delta Quadrant and retrieve the Captain."

Harry nodded slightly. The last 30 years had seen the advancement of the Pathfinder project, to the point where artificial wormholes were opened whenever possible to send trade vessels back and forth to the Delta Quadrant. "And you need the pulsar to open the singularity."

"Affirmative."

Harry nodded slightly and rose, finishing his drink. "Thank you for inviting me in--Annika. I'll let B'Elanna know you want to talk with her."

He smiled at the woman, who nodded back as he called his ship, and was transported away. The instant he was gone, she sighed and sunk to the chair he vacated, glancing at a bare wall. Instantly, a portrait of Kathryn Janeway appeared, the masking hologram fading out. Annika caressed the painting with her eyes, clenching her fist so tightly around her mug she left dents in the metal, and murmuring softly to the empty air, softly said, ⌠Soon. Soon, Kathryn. I will come."

* * *

The Delta Flyer made the transition to normal space, and into the system Kim had given her the coordinates for. B'Elanna was eagerly anticipating getting reacquainted with Seven, or Annika, if that's what she wanted to call herself now. The news had shocked everyone involved with Voyager. That Seven was still alive was a miracle. B'Elanna had done the scans of that debris field herself nine times before she gave up hope that her friend was still alive. She brought her ship down on the landing platform and powered down the engines as the shuttle bay doors closed over her ship. Getting up, she headed to the hatch and cracked it open, looking around as she got out, her overnight bag slung over her shoulder. She spotted a door open and a familiar figure step into the shuttle bay. With a squeal of delight, the half-Klingon rushed to her friend, eyes bright and smiling until Seven raised a hand to stop her from hugging the ex-drone.

B'Elanna's smile faltered as she saw the stony-faced woman nod slightly to her. "B'Elanna, it is good of you to come." The shorter woman was puzzled a bit by the cold formality of the greeting, then remembered that Seven had spent time on Vulcan after Chakotay's death.

"It was good of you to invite me, Seven. Or do you prefer Annika?" The ex-Borg nodded at the second option.

"Would you be good enough to assist me? I am having problems calibrating my instruments." With that, the tall, slender blond turned and entered the compound.

B'Elanna was perplexed. She'd heard that Seven seemed to have gotten colder since last she knew her, but this was beyond Vulcan in its coldness! What happened to the woman she had once joked and laughed with on Voyager? Had Chakotay's death upset her that much? Musing along this vein, B'Elanna followed the statuesque woman into what apparently was a workroom. Seven spoke to the computer, ordering it to show them the "emplacement" controls, whatever that meant.

The scene changed, and B'Elanna realized she must be in a holodeck of some sort. A 4-meter tall structure was built on a small asteroid, Borg-green lights and symbols on its displays. Seven touched a control and the display shifted to a standard Starfleet display. B'Elanna stepped up and ran her gaze down the readouts, her eyes climbing at the amount of power available in this small structure.

"What sort of power source do you have for this thing? A small nova?" she joked. Her laughter died as she saw the cold expression on Seven's face. Swallowing, B'Elanna turned back to the instrumentation. After a few minutes of examining the thing, her eyebrows rose once more, realizing this thing was capable of using the pulsar to generate a wormhole to almost anywhere in the galaxy.

She whistled softly, "Wow, Sev--I mean Annika. Barclay would have a fit if he saw how far you've taken his work on the Pathfinder project."

Annika nodded stiffly. "I applied Borg algorithms to his work, improving both efficiency and range. However, I have a recurring problem with temporal drift of the other endpoint."

B'Elanna nodded as she saw the problem. "Yeah, here it is. Your phase stabilizer assembly requires a tighter phase discriminator. 0.01 won't work for this. Only problem is, I don't know where to find one with a tighter discriminator."

"If you were to monitor and adjust the temporal variance at this end, would it still work?" Annika's eyes seem to bore into those of the half-Klingon.

"Uhhhh, sure. I'll have to adjust it continuously, though, and if I'm off by more than 0.01, the wormhole might spit you out anytime."

Seven's ice-blue eyes held the smaller woman's light brown ones. "That is an acceptable risk. Program the generator for a jump to the Borg Hive."

B'Elanna blanched, gripping the console tightly as she stared at the cold woman. "The--You want to go direct to Unimatrix 1? WHY, Seven?"

Annika stared coldly at B'Elanna for a full 30 seconds before replying, "The Captain is there. She is still alive--a plaything of the Borg Queen."

B'Elanna's eyes widened in shock, swaying uncertainly until Annika grasped her arm to steady her. "It is true, B'Elanna. I've heard the Queen's thoughts for years now; I know how she likes to...to torture Kathryn." The look of pained longing on Annika's face cut through B'Elanna's remaining doubts. She straightened and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Do what you have to, Annika. I'll guide you there. But how will you get back?"

"I shall commandeer a Borg sphere and use its transwarp drive to return to the Alpha Quadrant." At B'Elanna's incredulous look, she elaborated, "I can approximate the signature of orders coming direct from the Queen for a short time. It will allow me to order the sphere to deactivate all drones and set a course. Once I arrive, I will need assistance to destroy it before it reawakens."

Her old friend nodded and turned to the console. "I'll have this ready to go in about a half hour."

Annika nodded. "I shall prepare my suit." She griped B'Elanna's shoulder tightly and said sincerely, "Thank you, my friend." She turned and exited, missing the look of concern on the half-Klingon's face. B'Elanna sighed and wished her luck as she continued programming the console.

* * *

Three hours later:

"Are you certain this will work, Annika?"

"I have run one hundred thirty two simulations of this event, B'Elanna. It will succeed."

"Alright, if you're sure. Commence your run in 7, 6, 5," B'Elanna's voice was soothing as it counted down.

Annika was stationed above the system's north pole and approximately half a light-year distant. She turned gracefully and shifted to warp as B'Elanna reached zero. The blue glow at the point between her wings, and along the warp nacelles, grew brighter as she demanded more and more speed from her suit. The instrumentation in her field of view flashed as she passed warp 9, accelerating towards her maximum velocity. A sudden flare in front of her indicated the wormhole was forming, and she increased speed, flashing through the system at warp 9.97 and intersecting the wormhole at an incredible velocity.

B'Elanna was stunned by the acceleration Seven had cranked out of that suit of hers, until a flashing red light drew her attention to the control panel. The temporal coordinates were drifting again, and she quickly moved to correct them, overcompensating and triggering more alarms as the endpoint overshot the present and slid into the past. Frantic, B'Elanna tried to correct the drift again, but the wormhole's other end was already forming, and the console had initiated automatic shutdown of the Alpha Quadrant end of the wormhole. She managed to bring the endpoint back from the distant past just before it opened and this end collapsed. She sighed, looking at the endpoint stardate, and hanging her head as she rested on the console.

"I just hope Janeway doesn't blow Seven out of the sky when she arrives..."

* * *

"Tom, target this chamber, photon torpedoes, full spread."

Annika shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears. Obviously, she had been damaged upon exiting that unstable wormhole. Focusing on the Queen's Ship before her, her lips pulled back in a smile quite unlike her. It spoke of her satisfaction in revenge, her burning hatred. Diving forward at full impulse, she slammed into the ship's shields at full tilt, her Borg-enhanced disruptors bringing down the shield in moments, but they snapped shut again behind her. Irrelevant. She will succeed.

* * *

The massive impact rocked the Queen's Chamber. Janeway screamed, "Tom, not yet!"

"That wasn't me captain!"

Seven glanced at Janeway, a startled expression on her face. Then the attention of everyone in the room was drawn to the sealed door. The massive impact against it had bent the smooth metal. Again, the hollow boom echoed in the chamber and the Queen directed her drones to reinforce the door. Before they could get close, however, the door smashed inward, sending the front most drones crashing to the floor.

Through the mist, Janeway saw a figure, seeming a demon out of the blackest pits of hell, huge wing like shapes folding to its back as the tall apparition stepped through the shattered doorway. The figure paused, its luminous green eyes seeming to bore into Janeway's face.

"Kathryn."

Janeway straightened. The voice was somehow familiar, even through the heavy distortion. "I am Captain Kathryn Janeway."

The figure nodded slightly, and then slashed across the drones advancing on it, cutting them down with a strange red beam-like weapon.

"Escape now. I will distract the Queen."

Janeway didn't need to be told twice. She nodded at Seven, who resumed her efforts at bringing down the dampening field. The familiar whine of the transporter caught her as she saw the apparition take down the last of the drones.

* * *

Annika dispatched the last of the drones with a thrust of her disruptor lance, turning to glare balefully at the Queen, now standing regally in her alcove.

"You."

The word was laced with all of her nearly sixty years of hatred for the Borg, her suffering while enslaved to the Collective, her pain at loosing so many companions to the Borg's attacks on Voyager, and her thirty years of anguish watching helpless as the Queen tortured her Captain.

The Queen had never heard a voice so laced with venom. It shook her to her core. "And who are you?"

For answer, the impassive faceplate began to disassemble, folding out of the way and revealing a face very familiar to the queen. A face lined but still recognizable. Her eyes widened in shock. "You..." The word was whispered in her disbelief.

"Yes. Me," With that, the figure stepped forward in a blindingly fast motion, one gauntleted hand closing around the queen's neck and lifting her into the air, the other suddenly smashing through the Queen's chest plate.

The Queen choked. Never in so many centuries had she experienced this level of pain. She slumped to the floor as the figure withdrew her hands, pulling a faintly glowing blue disc from a slot on her armored chest and setting it in the ruin of the queen's biomechanical armor. The figure leaned close, whispering to the Queen, "You have been judged unworthy of perfection. Now, perfection shall cleanse you from the galaxy."

Unexpectedly, the queen felt the touch of the aged Seven's lips on her forehead.

"Goodbye."

With that, the figure stalked from the chamber, and the sound of renewed impacts and explosions followed in her wake as she exited the ship. For some reason, the Queen found she couldn't access the Collective, and used her sensors to examine the disc inserted into her ruined torso. Silver eyes widened in shock as she recognized the molecular signature and realized the bomb was set on a timer.

Her last dying shriek echoed throughout the minds of all the drones in the Collective, imprinting them indelibly with the aged ex-drone's face.

"ASSIMILATE THIS ONE AT ALL COSTS!"

The final thought that flashed through her mind was that of Omega. At last, the daughter had exceeded the mother. With that final thought, The Queen lay back and accepted the gift of death.

* * *

Tom Paris shoved the throttle forward as soon as Tuvok calmly announced that he had the two. Another dazzling explosion behind them and the strange figure slashed out of the badly damaged Queen's Ship, flashing past the Flyer as Janeway ordered him to open the conduit again.

"Yes Ma'am. Transwarp in 4, 3, 2, 1"

The sickeningly familiar lurch as the Flyer slipped into the transwarp conduit made the Doc gasp slightly. Tuvok turned to the captain, "Captain, there is a Borg warp signature in the conduit with us."

Janeway glanced up through the canopy's roof at the black-with-green-lights figure, keeping pace with them a few meters above the Flyer. "I think we can trust this one."

"Captain?" the tone of Tuvok's question carried all the meaning in the world.

"I'm not sure why." Just then, a Borg photon torpedo slashed past them.

"I can't maneuver in here, Captain, we'll have to fight them," Tom warned.

At that moment, that familiar, though distorted voice broke in through the comm.

"I will hold them off. Accelerate to Warp 9.35 and warn Voyager to match speed as soon as you clear the conduit." The figure dropped back out of sight. Following it with her sensors, Seven was startled to see the figure's wings flare, a spread of dozens of photonic grenades dispersing and impacting the Borg sphere in a series of minor fireballs. The badly damaged ship began to slow, the lights along its surface flickering and fading. The figure increased speed, overtaking the flyer as the exit to the conduit deposited them near Voyager.

"Voyager to Flyer, Captain' are you alright?" Chakotay's voice cut through the ship.

"Voyager, match our course and accelerate to Warp 9."

"Captain...?"

"Don't ask questions, just DO IT!"

Tuvok looked as startled as he ever had as Kathryn screamed at her first officer. For some reason, the cold voice over the comm had instilled a fear of whatever it was that was coming more than the Borg usually inspired in the diminutive captain.

The figure shadowing them suddenly glowed brilliant blue and streaked off. "Follow that... whatever it is, Chakotay, that's an order."

Voyager turned ponderously as the Flyer blasted into high warp. Just at that moment, a surge of blue-white radiance expanded from the exit of the conduit, tendrils of eldritch energy reaching out to grasp the ship just as it slammed into light-speed.

* * *

A few minutes later, when the figure had called to say they were outside the blast zone now, the Flyer was slowing to a stop in Voyager's docking bay. As the hatch opened, the figure that had shadowed them from the Unicomplex glided silently into the shuttle bay. Security guards reached for phasers as the humanoid figure with wide, swept-back wings came to a stop, landing lightly on the shuttle bay floor. Janeway paused, then came down the ramp from the Flyer, approaching the figure, who was surveying the security team. The black body armor, gleamed in the bright lights of the shuttle bay and one could see that it was lit with little blinking lights and glowing green patches at the intersections of the shoulder-pauldrons. The wings, folded to the figure's back now, would stretch to a full 5 meters or so if fully extended.

Janeway hesitated slightly then stepped forward. "On behalf of the Federation Starship Voyager, thank you for your assistance."

The figure turned those luminous eyes on her and nodded slowly, the distorted voice sounding in the shuttle bay, maddeningly familiar, "No need to thank me, Kathryn, I'm just glad you're safe."

Janeway's forehead wrinkled slightly at this, it sounded as if this whoever-it-was knew her. "Have we met?"

What could only be termed a chuckle came from the figure. Then the faceplate began to disassemble itself, folding together and back out of the way. Janeway's jaw dropped and she looked over at Seven who had frozen as she emerged from the Flyer, staring at the figure.

The face of the person in the suit had a few more lines on her face, a decorative swirl of metal over her left eye and along her right jawline, and an unfamiliar brilliant smile, but otherwise it was unmistakably Seven of Nine.

Still in shock at this apparition, Janeway stared as the armored figure, stepped forward and hugged the Captain, murmuring softly so that only Kathryn could hear, "I'm so happy we're home safe."

* * *

AN: WHEEE! My first fanfic! Please read and review! Sorry about having to delete the previous story, I found a massive defect in the first chapter and needed to reload everything. Please R&R!


	2. Chapter 2 : Activation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer:

This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the timeperiod on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

* * *

Everyone in the shuttle bay froze.

Tuvok held up a hand to restrain the security guards from rushing forward. This situation required a delicate touch. There were too many unknowns. He hadn't seen the face, but the sight of it had shocked both the Captain and Seven, but he gently coaxed the stunned ex-Borg down the ramp. He kept a hand on his phaser, but did not draw it.

His shock when the figure stood back and he saw the face, was betrayed only by the lifting of both eyebrows. Now he knew why Seven had froze. Perhaps he would too if he saw his older self like this. Still, this was no time to allow emotions to cloud logic. He stepped down the ramp to his captain's side as the figure glanced up at him, nodding coolly to Tuvok.

"Dup dor a'az Mubster, Tuvok," the older woman raised her gauntleted hand and spread her fingers in the Vulcan salute, "it is good to see you."

Tuvok's eyebrow rose slightly and he nodded, recognizing the Vulcan words for 'live long and prosper'.

"Seven?" The Captain's half-whispered question drew the armored woman's attention to her, "is that really you? What happened?"

"It is... a long story, Captain. As it is also a painful one, perhaps this is not the proper place to discuss it."

Half-dazed, Kathryn nodded. "Oh, of course. Do you require help to... exit that thing?"

"Indeed. I require a specialized alcove to don or remove this suit, Captain. As I did not have a chance to bring such with me, I must ask that Lt. Torres assist me in constructing such an alcove to the specifications I have brought."

The Captain nodded dumbly. Tuvok was inwardly concerned that perhaps this was a bit too much for the woman when the turbolift doors opened and the half-Klingon entered the shuttle bay. She took three steps in, was about to say something, then stopped short as she saw the armored figure near the Captain.

"Lt. Torres." The voice sounded amused.

"S-Seven?" The confused chief engineer glanced from the Seven she knew, wearing her plum biosuit, to the black-clad armored woman with an older, lined face that was still unmistakably Seven of Nine's, despite the unfamiliarity of the swirls of metal on her face.

"Please, refer to me as Annika. It is my right name, and it causes less confusion." The armored woman nodded slightly at Seven, who nodded back, looking slightly faint, which was something of a shock to B'Elanna. Until that point, she had thought that not even a phaser to the chest would get through that insufferable Borg frigidity. The fact that Seven was leaning against the Delta Flyer as if to draw support from the craft shocked B'Elanna more than the sight of her doppelganger.

The Captain glanced to her chief engineer. "B'Elanna, Annika here says she can't remove her armor without specialized equipment, but she couldn't bring it with her, so she'll need your help to build it here." She shot her volatile engineer a Force 3 Look. "We owe her our lives for getting us out of there intact."

B'Elanna gulped slightly and nodded, gazing intently at the gleaming-black clad woman. "So, what is it you need?"

The armored woman began to rattle off a list of components, and the pair left the shuttle bay, Annika's wings tucked tightly against her back. As the turbolift door closed, Annika turned and ordered the lift, "Deck 12, Section 20, Main Engineering."

B'Elanna's eyes ran up and down the suit's back as she waited, "That must have cost a heck of a lot. Where'd you get it?"

"I designed and built this myself. The warp core and impulse engines have been constructed to my specifications."

B'Elanna's eyes felt like they were about to explode out of her head. "You have a WARP CORE in that thing?"

Annika turned to face her, and for a second the Klingon thought she saw a smirk on the full lips. ⌠This suit enables me to achieve Warp 9.97 for 10 minutes."

The chief engineer slumped against the wall as the armored figure turned back to the doors. "That must suck down a lot of power. How often do you have to recharge it?"

"As of yet, I have not had the occasion to require a recharge."

That shocked B'Elanna, but she could tell from the woman's tone that she was teasing. "Well, care to share the specs for that reactor, then?"

"I am afraid it may not be compatible with Voyager's systems. I do not wish this ship to explode." Annika turned slightly as the doors opened near main engineering, letting B'Elanna out first. As the smaller woman passed the armored bulk, Annika spoke, "However, the same techniques I used to miniaturize my warp core could be applied to Voyager, allowing you to maintain a higher warp factor without burnout."

B'Elanna looked startled at the roguish grin on the older woman's face as she stepped past the smaller woman and into Engineering.

"Get a hold of yourself, B'Elanna. This isn't Seven, and you know it, don't get the two confused," she thought at herself, following the black armored shape into her engine room.

* * *

Seven sat in the mess hall trying to come to grips with her older self's appearance onboard. The sensations provoked by seeing her own face when the faceplate rolled back were┘disconcerting. She found herself resting her human hand on her abdomen and ignoring the nutritional supplement before her for the moment, trying to analyze these reactions.

"Something the matter with your lunch, Seven?"

The ex-Borg's attention snapped to the short, stocky Talaxian beside her, her arched gleaming-metal implant over her left eye rising. "It is acceptable." To prove her point, Seven carefully took a spoonful of the soup.

Neelix, his golden ruff of hair and side-whiskers nicely combed, sat across from the Borg. "You seem distracted by something today, Seven. I heard we picked up another drone during that last mission, that true?" A native to the Delta Quadrant, Neelix had served as Voyager's guide for the three years prior to the ship's encounter with Borg territory. Although his role as guide had ceased, he had taken his duties as morale officer and chef very seriously, sometimes to comical results when his cooking caused a minor epidemic of upset stomachs.

The alien's unusual bluntness caught Seven's attention and her ice-blue eyes gazed intently at his gold ones. "No. We did not sever another drone from the Collective." After a moment's hesitation, she spoke again, "We were...rescued."

"Rescued? By whom? I wasn't aware there were any friendly natives in the Unicomplex."

"I--" Seven never got further, as at that moment, her commbadge chirped. "Captain Janeway to Seven of Nine, please meet me in Astrometrics."

"I am on my way." The ex-drone stood, nodding politely to Neelix who stood as well, she then left the mess hall.

A few minutes later, she entered the Astrometrics lab. A joint project between herself and Ensign Harry Kim, the operations officer, the lab used Borg-enhanced sensors to chart the area around Voyager for a faster route home for the ship trapped 40,000 light-years and several decades at maximum warp away from home. Inside were Captain Kathryn Janeway and the individual known as Annika. Evidently, B'Elanna had finished the mechanized alcove Annika required to remove her starsuit, as the woman was clad in tight-fitting black pants and a black shirt Seven had heard referred to as a 'tank top'. Short, silver-white hair and pale grey-blue eyes complimented her pale skin and the silver tracery of implants on her face and bare arms.

"Captain?" Seven stepped up onto the control platform. She wore her formfitting plum biosuit, needed to help keep her Borg implants functioning efficiently and concealing little of her figure.

"Seven." The captain glanced between the two women, evidently disconcerted by the similarity of appearance, despite the numerous differences. For a moment, Seven froze, wondering if perhaps the Captain had called her here to say that she was no longer required in Astrometrics, as her future self knew more about their route than anyone.

"I'm here to let you know Annika has requested quarters for the two of you."

That surprised the Borg, who responded with a raised ocular implant, "Quarters?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier. I've heard you've had a hard time adjusting to living on this ship, and I've heard some unflattering rumors about how you're being treated like a piece of machinery, kept in the cargo bay until needed." The pain in Kathryn's voice was evident, even to the socially undeveloped drone. She hesitated a bit, unsure how to respond to this, but the Captain wasn't finished. "So, I'm assigning you quarters with Annika on Deck 6. I've spoken with Annika about this, and she agrees that she'd be an ideal roommate to help you settle into a more human existence."

Seven turned her gaze on the other woman, seeing those pale blue eyes twinkle slightly as the impassive face nodded to her. "I am unsure if I am ready for this facet of humanity, Captain"

"Nonsense, Seven." Seven recoiled at the sudden words from her counterpart. "You've been ready almost since the Doc removed your abdominal implant. You just got used to living in the cargo bay, and it's driven a wedge between you and the rest of the ship."

Seven was unsure how to take that blunt statement from the woman who looked almost exactly like her, but realized that Annika must remember her own time on Voyager keenly.

"That's right, Seven. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner, but we can set it right, now. Annika's volunteered to be your roommate, and to take over from the Doctor in teaching you more about social niceties."

The older woman nodded slightly to Seven. "I understand your current state of social development, having experienced it myself. You may ask me any questions you have about social interactions on board ship, and I will do my best to explain them in terms you can understand."

Seven nodded gratefully to the older woman and Janeway smiled. "Well, that's settled. Annika has provided us with some schematics for improvements to the warp core that shaves a full year off our journey, but I want you to go over them with her to make sure."

The ex-drone nodded, "I will comply." She turned to Annika as Janeway grinned ruefully at the typically Borg expression before leaving Astrometrics.

* * *

Personal Log, Seven of Nine, Stardate 52634.1

The individual known as Annika has settled in within a few days of her arrival on Voyager. I find her intriguing, and not just because she is from the future. I know of no set of circumstances that would induce me to attempt to singlehandedly attack the Unicomplex as she has admitted she wished to do. Perhaps when I have 'grown older' I will understand.

I am somewhat confused as to what to call her. I called her Seven once, because that is the designation I have been given, but it seemed to cause her pain and she asked me to call her Annika. That name I still have not really identified with, so I am not averse to her using it, but it is rather... disconcerting. I find myself thinking of her as an alternate possibility of myself, one who was never assimilated. She certainly has much less trouble interacting with the crew than I do, but she has been teaching me more thoroughly than the Doctor ever did about individual social customs.

She has brought back with her an exoskeleton armor that has baffled Lieutenant Torres's attempts to analyze it. I have attempted to scan it with Borg enhanced sensors as well, at her request, but to no avail. Whatever shielding it uses completely masks it from sensors. The suit is still visible, just impervious to scanning, but a visual scan shows that the 'wings' contain an extremely powerful warp drive. B'Elanna has been, 'bugging' I think the term is, Annika for information about the suit's power source, but so far the... I suppose the only term for her is my 'counterpart'. In any event, Annika has not been forthcoming with the data. She has been invaluable in providing detailed data pertaining to upgrades to the warp core, however, that have distracted the engineer from attempting to examine the armor further.

I find myself... mystified by her. Perhaps it is the new implants she has shown me that defy my capability to analyze, but something about her is enigmatic in a way I find...intriguing. She has told me that during the 32.35 years she spent in the Alpha Quadrant, she not only invented a new power system and miniaturized a warp core, but also found a way to augment her remaining implants and stabilize them against further decay. She still requires regeneration, but the period has decreased to one hour per seven-day period. I find whatever information she dispenses about her augmented systems fascinating. It has apparently been designed specifically to resist assimilation. I must ask her sometime if it would be possible to augment my own systems with her upgrades to prevent myself from being reacquired by the Collective.

Her tales of our future voyages have been limited, but the few she has informed me about have been fascinating. She does not dispense exact details about our encounters in her past, our future, but I have been able to glean much from her hints.

I must return to Astrometrics now. End Log.

* * *

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 52634.2

Annika. That's her name. Annika Hansen. Our new guest seems to be fitting in well, though she seems almost as cold as Tuvok can be at times. But I've seen a light in her eyes and a spring in her step as she strides these corridors that I wouldn't have thought possible, for her or for Seven.

I must say, I was totally taken aback when she hugged me in the shuttle bay. The feel of that thick armored exoskeleton gently enclosing me was both frightening and soothing at the same time. *soft snicker* I thought Tuvok was going to explode from the desire to protect me and the thought that if he did, he might doom us all.

I granted her request for an alcove in the shuttle bay to let her extract herself from that suit of hers. The thing needs to be assembled and disassembled around the wearer, so she couldn't take it off until the alcove was complete. She and B'Elanna have struck up a remarkable friendship, and by extension, B'Elanna is treating Seven much better now. The number of rumors about the "Ice Queen" have dropped off significantly since Annika came onboard.

That suit of hers... I saw it in action, and I can hardly believe how powerful it is. I've seen her push that thing to Warp 9.97 on occasion, apparently just for the sheer hell of it, but I still don't see how it's possible to fit that powerful of a drive core in a suit that tiny. Seven has requested to be allowed to study it, and I've granted her permission, but I don't think Annika will let her get too detailed a scan. She's fiercely protective of that suit. Oddly, she seems equally protective of Seven. I've seen her lift a crewman who was whispering insulting comments about the ex-Borg in the mess hall out of his seat by the back of his uniform and demand an apology. Seven seemed to be somewhat taken aback by this, but evidently she was grateful someone stuck up for her.

One of the first things Annika asked for was a set of quarters, which I was prepared to grant, but she surprised me by asking for Seven's alcove to be transferred there as well. On reflection, I suppose it was a bad idea to keep Seven in the cargo bay, like a piece of equipment to be put away when not in use. We actually installed two alcoves in the quarters, one for Annika and one for Seven. At first, when I told her about needing to put the two alcoves in officer's quarters, B'Elanna swore at me, then got down to it and did it.

I've been avoiding asking Annika too much about the future, figuring her tendency to change the subject indicated either it was too painful or she wanted to avoid altering the timeline too much. I do know that in her timeline, she never came back like this, so either she's going to try to avoid some sort of catastrophe, or alter some sort of circumstances related to me.

I've caught her looking at me with those eyes of hers. One moment, they're ice blue and cold as a mountain stream, the next they're the hot blue of an intense flame. More than once I've seen her staring at me as if to reassure herself I'm real. Maybe something happened to me in her other timeline, and if so, I don't want to know about it. It's bad enough to know that she felt so strongly about it that she broke the Temporal Prime Directive and came back to avert it. Perhaps I got assimilated on that last mission to rescue Seven from the Borg, I don't know.

Chakotay's outside the door and I have to get back to reports. End Log Entry.

* * *

Chief Engineer's Personal Log, Stardate 52654.5

Well, it took a few weeks, but I managed to finally figure out why I can't scan that blasted suit that Annika came back with. It's got multi-spacial shields AND a polyfiber armor carapace swarming with Borg nanoprobes. Just thinking that those nanoprobes had been in contact with the captain makes my skin crawl.

That suit fascinates me. I've seen it reach Warp 9.97 for a few minutes, when Annika was out doing some sort of practice in an asteroid field we passed a few days back. I've never seen a warp field that intense before. I know, the inverse cube law dictates that the larger the field the more power required, but there's no possible way to cram that much power into that small a space. The only other place I've seen that comes close to that level of energy density is in a supernova explosion, and I don't want to think about Annika flying around with a supernova in her pocket.

Seven's recent questions about the shielding around the suit and the possible repercussions of a power core of that magnitude destabilizing have worried me a bit, but I reassured her that if it was going to blow, it would've done so before now. Annika seems to have no problems with anxiety about her suit vaporizing an entire star system. But that might just be that damn Borg Wall she puts between her and her emotions.

I've seen that woman's eyes positively dance with glee when she fixed a problem we'd been having for 3 years with the replicators. I swear if she didn't look so much like Seven, I d've said she was someone else entirely. And if that weren't enough, she's so polite most of the time that I keep getting startled by that swirl of metal around her left eye. I keep forgetting that this is the future Seven I'm talking to, and that creeps the Grethor out of me.

On the plus side, she's given us some very impressive technical data. I can't wait to see the Captain's face when I present her with my proposal for armoring Voyager with that ablative armor Annika brought back with her. The only problem I have is that the power required is so high we won't be able to use weapons. And Annika's given us a few pointers there that bear investigating.

I've got to head to my quarters and take a bath. Overhauling one of the shuttles is never clean.

* * *

Annika's Personal Log, Stardate 52656.2

I am home. Home and Beloved is safe.

Kathryn is back on board now, but I think I might have overdone my welcome when I arrived. She seems to be avoiding me now.

I'm not sure what happened with the wormhole I used to reach here, but evidently B'Elanna's attempts to stabilize the temporal coordinates failed. Still, I got the chance to set things right before they ever went wrong in the first place.

I must admit, it was a shock to see myself in the Queen's chamber. I remember these events, but it was still a shock. The device I used to destroy the Queen's ship will have severed the head of the hydra for now, but it's only a matter of time before a new Queen is installed. Still, I hope to have Voyager home and out of their reach before that happens.

B'Elanna and myself... I need to come up with alternate designations. I'll call my younger self Seven. I seem to recall being rather unattracted to my birth name until I fully comprehended the sadism of the Collective. So. I'll call her Seven. Seven and B'Elanna have been attempting to scan my suit. Even with the shields down and the power core at minimal setting, the polyfiber shells will keep Omega a secret for a while longer. I recall we encounter the substance again a few months from now. Perhaps this time I can persuade Kathryn to forgo destroying it, citing my own success in harnessing Omega.

I'll encrypt this and all future logs with certain encryption codes I've developed since my earlier time on Voyager. I'd like to see Seven crack them; it should teach her something about the nature of the Borg. They aren't as adaptable as they think with all the creativity squashed out of them. The ability to process data logically is good, but without that spark of creativity the Collective will never innovate, merely assimilate. That is why they will never achieve perfection.

I have found myself stepping into a mentoring role for Seven recently. I was so incensed by the comment I overheard in the Mess hall, I had the Ensign who said it out of his chair before I knew what I was doing. Seven calmed me down, and I merely extracted an apology instead of terminating him as was my wish, but the experience has taught me to keep a tighter reign on my anger than I have been. I've been so happy here that that comment brought back all the bad things about being on Voyager, the constant harassment, the innuendo, the looks, the feeling of being excluded...I'll make sure Seven integrates fully this time around, not being shunted to the side as I was.

Seven's coming. I'd better encrypt this.

* * *

Personal Log, Seven of Nine, Stardate 52656.3

I found Annika in Astrometrics this morning. At first, I was hesitant to approach her, but after she engaged me in conversation, I found her very easy to talk to. Our conversation ranged over a wide variety of topics, from data extraction algorithms to personal preferences in music. Our preferences in music were remarkably different, perhaps the difference of experience. I find myself attracted to symphonic pieces, elegant in their complexity. She tends towards straightforward rhythms and chords, simple yet graceful. She has promised to introduce me to this "rock" sometime, though what significance an inorganic solid has to music I am unsure. Perhaps I should research this more thoroughly.

I was astounded at the speed at which Annika processed the data we had accumulated during the night. It wasn't that she was faster at analyzing the data, and she has told me that she did not recall this particular sample of data from her own experiences as myself. Perhaps I will grow this 'intuition' she professes to have, but she has cautioned me that it took her some time to rely on her 'gut' feelings, and she still tends to analyze data thoroughly despite usually having the correct answer before completing the analysis.

I have found my inability to analyze her suit rather more intriguing than frustrating, especially after that expression she had when I mentioned my inability. She expressed her desire to "figure it out myself", if I wanted to know more about it. I must admit, the fact that I cannot scan it directly has intrigued me to the point where I find myself developing new scanning techniques to uncover just what it is she has inside her suit. I have registered power readings from the suit while she was using it, and the amount of raw power in the suit is...staggering, I suppose is the correct word. I have a suspicion I know what is the suit's power core, but I must gather more data before confronting Annika about it. I am not sure if I should tell the captain my suspicions at this time, but the possible danger of the core should be addressed.

For reasons I cannot fathom, I find myself relaxing when in Annika's presence. She has almost entirely taken over the Captain's role in integrating me into Voyager's Collective. I found myself speaking considerably more freely with her than with the Captain at this point, perhaps because she understands my viewpoint more than any other individual onboard does, simply because she was once in my position. This... camaraderie is invaluable. I have been able to work out with her why the crew treats me in the way they do, in particular why Lt Torres seems to be enthusiastic towards me one minute and harshly critical the next. Perhaps Annika's suggestion that I 'open up a little' to Lt Torres will succeed in improving relations with the half-Klingon.

I must find time to examine my experiences with Annika soon. For the time being, I will continue to monitor Astrometrics.

* * *

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 52657.8

Annika stopped by after lunch today. I'm still amazed at the mature woman Seven grew up to be. But then, she's also had a lot of stress in her life. I heard her mention something about a romantic relationship with Chakotay in her past, but apparently it didn't work out too well.

Seven and B'Elanna have been driving each other to distraction, trying to analyze that suit of Annika's. I'm not sure what they find so interesting in that suit, but I actually had to remind Seven that she needed to finish a long-range sensor analysis before she went off duty tonight. I've never had to do that before.

B'Elanna's been interacting much more peaceably with Seven these past few days, ever since Annika's incident in the mess hall where she pulled that ensign making comments about Seven into the air. I knew that Annika was a woman of deep emotions, but I didn't realize how cold she could be about it. That flat delcaration that she'd terminate him if he continued such harrassment apparently deeply impressed Seven as well as my engineer.

Speaking of Annika. I ran across a padd on my desk a few days ago from her, suggesting a course correction to an out of the way system. She requested that the ship stock up on supplies there, but after long range scans, the only supplies we could find were some ore samples that have the geometrics section drooling over their consoles. Still, it'd be a good respite from letting Astrometrics have all the glory, and give those rock hounds some glory of their own.

End Log entry.

* * *

Chief Engineer's Personal Log, 52661.3

Well, this new system the Captain took us to is rather interesting. Not. No M-class planets, no gas giants either, just lumps of rock. So far, nothing interesting is in this system. I hope Annika has a reason for what she's doing and isn't just taking the scenic route out of nostalgia. I'll admit, the asteroid belt is rather pretty, but we could have imaged it from a few light-years away just the same.

I hear the Captain wants the EPS grid up to full capacity to take advantage of the restored replicators. Well, I have no problem with that, but it does mean more work for me. *soft sigh* At least Seven seems to have forgiven me for that last ice-queen comment I made to her a few days back. The sight of that long drop to the bottom of the warp core was...inspiring, to say the least. I'm still not sure Annika put her up to that, but I don't want to antagonize that woman. She looks like she's been in a number of less savory bar fights in her time.

Still, that outburst from Annika was...well, startling. First thing I knew she had that ensign danging from his shirtfront in front of the entire mess hall. I guess that Borg exterior hides a lot more than I suspected.

End Log.

* * *

Annika's Personal Log, 52662.9

I caught Seven snooping around my suit's alcove with a tricorder again. I can tell she's suspicious, but she's rather inventive for excuses as to why she needs to scan my suit. First it was to make sure its power requirements were met, then to determine the resonance frequency of the shields, and a few other reasons. I'm not sure how much longer it'll take her to figure out the power source. She must remember Omega from her time in the collective.

It's late, almost midnight. I'd better go to bed soon. Seven's going to spend the night in Astrometrics, as usual. Someday I'm going to coax her to spend a night in a bed. It'll do her good and reduce her dependency on the alcove for regeneration. Might need to get her used to solid food first, though. She's being remarkably stubborn about that, stating repeatedly that she does not have the time to ingest solid nutrients, yet I've caught her numerous times in the holodeck with various recreational and workout programs. I don't think she's lying, except perhaps to herself. I think I'll see if I can get her to have lunch with me in the Mess Hall tomorrow. Neelix is preparing a dish I think she and I will enjoy, using some supplies we gathered on our last stop for foodstuffs.

On a brighter note, I found Beloved in the mess hall a few nights ago, looking over a padd. I helped her with the problem and we got to discussing various points in our past. I recall how Seven and she had spent the first few days at each other's throats, and I think that startled her a bit. I took the time to explain how I had felt at the time, which seemed to settle her doubts a bit, though I think she's still uneasy being around me. I don't look much older than Seven does now, but that's due to my nanoprobes keeping me from aging as much as a human normally would.

I do hope she returns my feeling eventually. I've waited so long for my Beloved, I couldn't bear it if I found I had lost her before I ever had her.

End Log.

* * *

It was several weeks after Annika had come on board, and things had changed on Voyager. First of all, the ship was humming along at a much improved efficiency, maintaining a higher warp factor and enjoying fully-functional replicators for the first time since they were stranded.

Things were looking up, finally, and morale was high.

Seven of Nine was letting the computer run an analysis of an anomalous subspace reading when the hammer of insight struck. The ex-drone stood unseeing for a full 63.2 seconds before realizing the computer was waiting for an instruction. She quickly filed the results of the analysis and left Astrometrics, heading for her quarters, shared with her counterpart, Annika.

She stopped in the doorway to the bedroom, noticing that Annika was asleep. Her breath stilled as she caught sight of Annika's back. Whereas her own was devoid of implants after the removal of her abdominal implant a few weeks ago, Annika's had a silver tracery, about 5mm wide, running down her spine and spreading across her ribs like a simulation of the nervous system, graceful arched curves of metal, flexing slightly as the woman stirred in her sleep. Annika had kicked the covers down to her waist, lying on her side with her back to the young woman in the doorway.

The lights came up full as the computer gently announced the time was 0100 hours, Annika stirring in protest, but sitting up quickly when she saw Seven in the doorway. The younger woman flushed as she saw Annika's bare chest. Evidently, Annika preferred not to wear clothing to bed.

Annika's chest was as marked as her back with a thin tracery of metal spirals down her abdomen, but avoiding her full breasts.

"Morning, Seven. Why are you here?" Annika pulled the sheets up a bit, using them to cover herself as she slipped out of bed and over to the bathroom.

Seven found herself having trouble remembering why she had come to Annika's bedroom door for a moment, ⌠It is Omega, isn't it."

Annika glanced up sharply at the younger ex-drone. After a moment she spoke, "Have a seat, I'll be out in about five minutes."

As there was no chair in the room, Seven hesitated a bit before stating she'd rather stand. Annika took only 4.8 minutes before she emerged, toweling her short hair and clad in workout shorts and shirt. Seven looked her up and down, taking this opportunity to note the differences between the two women and noticing that the woman's shins also sported decorative-seeming swirls of metal around them in an intricate pattern.

Annika sat on the end of the bed, tossing the towel expertly through the open bathroom door and onto the counter.

"I'm impressed, Seven. I hadn't thought you would have figured it out yet."

Seven wasn't sure if she should be pleased or insulted. Pleased that she had exceeded her elder self's expectations, or insulted that her elder self's expectations were so low. "There is only one substance that could produce the power required by the systems I scanned in your suit, Annika. Omega."

Annika nodded, "It is Omega. I managed to synthesize and stabilize about a hundred of the molecules. All but seven of those are in my suit's power core, the rest in micro-bombs."

"Explosives? You wasted Omega on explosives?" The shock in Seven's voice caught Annika's attention.

"Nothing else would do. I had not just wanted to destroy the Queen's ship, but also prevent any survivors from contacting the Collective. Omega prevents any and all subspace traffic within the destroyed region of subspace, and is therefore ideal for the purpose. Assuming one can contain it long enough to detonate it at their command."

Seven nodded slightly at that, glancing down. "I see the logic of it. I assume you still have seven of the Omega-explosives left?"

"I hope not to have to use them, but yes."

A silence fell then, Seven glancing curiously at Annika. She hadn't really seen the woman this way before, and the silver traceries on Annika's body seemed at first decorative and irrelevant until Seven remembered that this was herself she was viewing, and each tracery probably had a very good reason for being there. "What is purpose of the metal strips on your surface?"

Annika suppressed a grin. Seven was still learning how to be polite. "I have found ways of augmenting my Borg implants, reformatting the ones I could without risk, to make them incompatible with standard Borg equipment."

Seven blinked slightly in confusion. "How is that possible?"

"I have reprogrammed my nanoprobes significantly since I arrived back in the Alpha Quadrant. In addition to maintaining my body and implants, they also aggressively seek out and destroy any invading technology, including unmodified nanoprobes." Annika yawned slightly, then stretched a little. The motion pulled the shirt taught across her chest, the hem lifting a bit to let the light gleam on the metal curls along her abdomen.

"So, you've adapted to resist the Borg. Impressive." Seven wasn't feeling her best. For some reason her ocular implant ached and she rubbed at the point to the side of it to ease the unpleasant sensation.

"In a manner of speaking. I adapted specifically to destroy the Borg. My body is now prepared to withstand significant pressures and strains, and to respond far faster than a drone, allowing me to hold my own against them if it ever came down to a hand-to-hand battle. I've also reactivated my Borg shielding, but I intended that to be a last line of defense."

Seven was definitely not feeling well, now. The ache had spread to her stomach now and was making her regret having had that dish Neelix had prepared. "I... see...."

"Are you feeling alright, Seven?" Annika's look of concern didn't shock the ex-drone as much as the fact that her vision had started to blur.

"I am... malfunctioning." It was growing increasingly difficult to restrain the peristalsis in her esophagus. Her 'stomach' apparently did not like Neelix's most recent concoction.

"Annika to sickbay, medical emergency, two to beam directly to sickbay."

Annika's voice soothed Seven with its calm tone, even as she felt herself slipping off the bed. The familiar sensation of the transport engulfed her, but it was too much for her stomach. The instant she had materialized, she turned aside in Annika's arms, unable to restrain the urge to empty her roiling abdomen as quickly as possible.

"Please state-- Oh my. Annika, what's wrong with her?" The Doctor's tone sounded at once both remote and present, the roaring sensation in

her ears preventing Seven from pinpointing the Doctor in the blurred mass of painful light that she saw.

"Sudden onset of nausea and loss of motor control." Annika's soothing voice calmed the apprehensive Seven as she felt the strong arms lift her onto the biobed.

"Third case today, let me guess, she had Neelix's Indian Surprise."

"That she did, but only two mouthfuls. I don't see how that could have upset her."

"She's having the same reaction Ensign Kim and Ensign Delaney did. I can't do much for them. They'll have to deal with the symptoms."

"What symptoms, Doctor?"

"Oh, about the same as a week-long flu compressed into a few hours."

Seven wished the voices would stop. They tore at her, ringing in her ears and making her head spin. Intellectually, she realized this was probably another step on her way to becoming human, but at the moment she wished for the comfort of her abdominal implant and the inability to feel her stomach roiling in this fashion.

Neither the doctor nor Annika was prepared for the woman on the bed to suddenly emit a piercing wail.

* * *

"Sickbay to Bridge!"

Janeway glanced up at her First Officer. The ruggedly handsome man, the curlicues of the tattoo of his Native American heritage clearly visible over his left eye, glanced back in surprise at the urgency in the Doctor's tone.

"Go ahead?"

"Please come down here at once. It's Seven."

Janeway's eyes widened. There'd been something of a minor epidemic among the crew after Neelix's last attempt at making an Earth dish. The sufferers had christened it the Three-Hour Hell, a combination of intense migraines, nausea, loss of motor control and fever resembling that of an entire week of flu symptoms rolled into three hours. Until now, however, it had been limited to the fully-human members of the crew who had partaken of Neelix's Indian Surprise dish at the celebration a week ago.

"I'm on my way. You have the bridge, Commander." Janeway quickly stepped into the turbolift and called for Sickbay.

* * *

Annika was restraining the violently thrashing woman on the biobed as the doctor quickly applied a hypospray to Seven's neck. The wails of anguish coming from the woman shocked Janeway to the core as she stepped through the door, rushing to the bedside.

"Report!"

The Doctor exited through the force field around the surgical biobed, motioning the captain aside, "It's Seven's implants, Captain. Her immune system is rejecting them all at once. I've given her something to deaden the pain, but it's only a matter of time. I can't shut down her immune response, since I don't know what's causing it, but unless we find a way to halt it in the next three hours, her body is going to literally tear itself apart from the inside out."

The doctor's blunt statement caused Janeway's wide eyes to turn to the biobed, where Annika was soothing the panting woman's forehead. The tender gesture seemed to soothe the younger woman, but she still writhed in pain on the biobed.

"Can't you just shut down her immune system completely until you figure out what's stimulating it?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't, Captain. I don't know if it can handle being shut down like that, and Seven's health requires her immune system to function."

"Keep me informed Doctor. I want to know any change, good or bad."

"Of course, Captain."

Janeway nodded and left Sickbay as another wail of pain was torn from the young woman. She leaned heavily on the bulkhead as the door shut on the hideous sound. Her heart pounded in reaction to that pained cry, bringing up the primal fears ingrained deep in her body's memory of brutal survival before the dawn of civilization. She hoped with all her heart that the Doctor could find something soon.

* * *

Janeway was in her ready room, unable to concentrate on her reports, too worried about what was happening to Seven.

"Sickbay to Captain!"

Janeway looked up, tapping her commbadge, "Go ahead?"

"Please report to Sickbay, it's urgent."

A chill swept through Janeway. The doc never used that tone of voice unless he had given up hope. She stepped quickly to the turbolift, heading down to Deck 5.

"30 cc's of Melorazine!"

The sound of the frantic activity in Sickbay brought Janeway's heart into her mouth as she rushed in. Annika was assisting the Doctor as he administered hypospray after hypospray to the unnaturally arched woman, keening in agony as the hypospray hissed against her neck. A moment later, Seven collapsed unconscious, the shriek she had been emitting dying to an unconscious whimper as the Doctor came through the force field to speak with the captain.

"It's worse than I thought, Captain. I'm not sure what's causing it, but every one of her implants is starting to degrade at a horrifying rate. There's nothing I can do now. Just ease her pain as much as I can before..." He trailed off, leaving Janeway to nod in understanding.

"Do what you can for her."

"I can help her, Captain."

That cool tone brought Janeway's gaze around to stare at Annika, standing beside Seven's bed. The older woman was lent over the younger one, hand on her forehead as she gazed into the unconscious face, lined with pain.

"I can save her captain." Annika turned to gaze back at Janeway, and there was pain in those pale eyes. "I can save her. But there is a considerable risk that both she and I may loose some functionality or suffer permanent damage."

"How can you save her, Annika?" Janeway's heart leapt at the hope of retaining the life of the valued ex-Borg.

"I can reformat her implants. It is a dangerous procedure, but it will stabilize her body so that her implants will never be rejected by her immune system."

The Doctor broke in at this point, "No, Annika! You can't risk your own life to save her!"

"But it's not my life to risk, Doctor. If she dies, I will also cease to exist." The pained, pale eyes turned back to Janeway, "Please, Beloved, let me save her."

The title Annika used shoved Janeway's heart into her throat again. So that was it. Annika was in love with her. No wonder she risked everything to come back in time to save her. A shudder ran through the captain's body as she realized that at some level she had already known this fact. After a bit of hesitation, she nodded slowly, "Do it. And Annika?" The woman turned back to gaze at her. "Survive. Both of you. That's an order."

Annika smiled mirthlessly and nodded. She took Seven's hand in hers, caressing the human limb slightly before reaching forward and injecting her younger self's neck with the assimilation tubules that always made Janeway shudder when she saw that reminder of the woman's past. At once, the younger woman relaxed, her pain receding. But Annika didn't withdraw her tubules, leaning forward, eyes closed, and lips moving soundlessly as she lent almost on top of Seven. For a moment, nothing happened, then to Janeway's astonishment, the younger woman's ocular implant began to melt.

Silver flowed like water as the raised implant flowed out around the young woman's face, reshaping into an angular, curved design of silvery metal around the woman's eye, resembling Chakotay's tattoo slightly, but much more angular. A glance to her right cheek showed the starburst implant writhing on the woman's skin as it spread down to her jaw and crept along it towards her chin.

"My god."

The doctor's startled exclamation drew Janeway to the console he was using to monitor the pair. "What is it?"

"They've linked cortical nodes. See the linkage? Annika's using her own cortical node to reformat Seven's, teaching it to control the implants even as Annika is reformatting them."

Janeway watched the console for a moment longer, then looked up at the two women in the surgical bay, knowing that it was past time that she could stop this, knowing that she could only watch and wait. A warning signal sounded, and the Doctor rushed forward, only to be startled in the extreme as the force field around the surgical bay flared in response, keeping him out and making him hiss as he clutched the arm that had contacted the field. Janeway darted around the console to glance from the hologram's arm to the now-visible field, glowing spirals of green energy indicating the Borg nature of the field.

Evidently, Annika did not want to be disturbed.

The warning sounded again, more strident this time. Janeway hesitated, but realized she had no hope of penetrating this field if the EMH couldn't. "Annika!"

And the siren stopped.

The woman bent over the figure on the biobed withdrew her tubules from the figure, straightened up and glanced beatifically at Janeway. Then her eyes rolled up and she slumped to the floor as the force field came down. The Doctor rushed to her side as Janeway stepped to the bed, gazing down at Seven. Only the hands, neck and head of the ex-Borg showed outside the biosuit she wore, but the changes in her implants were unmistakable.

The ocular implant had formed itself into an angular design around the woman's left eye, similar to the graceful curls of metal around Annika's, but far sharper in their angles. The starburst implant under the young woman's right ear had spread down to her jaw and halfway out to her chin with similar angular radiations. The hand-mesh on the Borg prosthetic was almost unchanged, save that the edges of the metal mesh coating her hand had developed many spurs and barbs into the flesh-like coating of the prosthetic.

Janeway's heart leapt as Seven's eyes flickered and opened, the ice-blue eyes lighter than they had been as she looked up at Janeway. A slow smile spread over her full lips as she whispered up at her, "The pain. It's gone."

"Yes. Annika had to stabilize your implants. I'm afraid you're no longer as Borg as you used to be."

A strange sound came from the young woman, making Janeway's eyebrows raise. A chuckle.

"I... I seem to have trouble controlling my diaphragm, Captain. I-is this normal?"

Janeway smiled at the woman's naivetИ. "It's called a laugh, Seven. And yes, it's normal."

The young woman smiled wider and nodded, then sank back to the biobed, closing her eyes, "I am...fatigued, Captain."

"You've been through a lot, that's understandable. Rest now. I'll have the Doctor take you and Annika back to your quarters when you're feeling better."

Seven nodded slightly, evidently more exhausted than she had realized as the black oblivion of sleep overcame her.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the wait, people, been reading through the Just Between series and doing schoolwork. It's been a very hectic week.


	3. Chapter 3 : Adaptation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer:

This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the timeperiod on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

* * *

"Seven?"

The familiar voice penetrated the ex-Borg's sleep, waking the young woman from tumultuous dreams of darkness and green light.

"Seven? Are you awake?"

The young woman let out a muffled moan as the light stabbed into her eyes as she opened them, wincing and looking up into the familiar face of the half-Klingon, the soft cranial ridges showing her human ancestry as well as the klingon. Seven was rather puzzled at B'Elanna's appearance, she looked paler than usual. "Lt Torres."

"Ahh, good to see you're awake, Seven." The Doctor, a holographic substitute for the medical officer Voyager had lost in her initial abduction to the Delta quadrant, came over, running a tricorder down her form as he frowned proffesionally at the readings.

B'Elanna had heard the scuttlebut going around the ship that something drastic had been attempted to keep Seven alive, but the extent to which the young woman had been altered still startled her. Gone were the starburst implant and the raised ocular implant on the woman's sharp-featured face. In their place were angular patterns of metal, almost Klingon in their curved sharpness. Although Seven's biosuit kept almost all of her body out of view, B'Elanna was sure that the rest of the woman's implants had been altered as well. She still wasn't sure how the alteration had taken place, but she guessed it had something to do with why Annika was still unconcious in the surgical biobed.

The Doc sighed as he closed his tricorder, "Well, as far as I can tell, you're just suffering from a mild headache right now, Seven. I see no reason to keep you here any longer, you can go." B'Elanna swore inwardly that he seemed regretful at that last comment.

"I will comply." Seven levered herself up, hesitating as she sat on the edge of the biobed, an odd expression on her face as she rested her Borg-enhanced left hand on her abdomen. B'Elanna could guess why when she heard the unmistakble sound of a hungry tummy coming from the young woman.

"Care to join me in the mess hall for lunch, Seven?" The half-Klingon gave the taller woman a half smile, encouraging but not pushing.

After a moment's hesitation, the ex-Borg nodded. "I will accompany you." B'Elanna shrugged inwardly, realizing Seven still had a long way to go to be human.

* * *

Neelix was working in the galley when the two women entered. The short and stocky native of the Delta quadrant had a thick ruff of golden hair and sideburns, as well as dark spots on the skin of his face and hands, which were deft with the utensils he used to prepare the concoctions that were the bane, and occasionally the joy, of his crewmates' existance.

He quickly set the lid on a simmering saucepan and stepped out as the half-klingon guided the still-woozy Seven to a table. "Can I get you anything?"

B'Elanna glanced up at the alien, then at Seven, "I'll have whatever it is you've got simmering. That smells good. But I think Seven should take it easy for a bit. She just got out of sickbay." Neelix nodded and headed back to the galley.

Seven nodded, "Thank you, Lt Torres."

"Call me B'Elaana when we're both off-duty, Seven. It's less formal." The chief engineer of the starship Voyager leaned back as Neelix set a plate of stew in front of her, and a simple replicated soup in front of the ex-Borg. The pair murmured their thanks and dug in.

Seven sipped carefully at the soup, noting the group of Ensigns at a table nearby, B'Elanna's concerned expression as the pair realized that the Ensigns were discussing Seven's recent absence from Astrometrics. One of the junior officers was commenting that since the Borg Queen had left, her job was much easier, and hoped that the Captain kept the drone out of the department. B'Elanna's eyes flashed as Seven set her spoon down carefully, the half-Klingon twisting to send a glare at the junior officers. Unfortunately, the one making disparaging comments was facing away from her, so she didn't see the glare. Nor the tall blond rise from her seat and stalk out of the mess hall.

* * *

Annika slowly opened her eyes, then glanced around as she recognized Voyager's sickbay ceiling. "Doctor."

The familiar form of the holographic doctor stepped closer, running a tricorder sensor over her form, "Glad to have you back, Annika. Next time, don't scare the captain like that?"

"What happened?"

"You finished...doing whatever it was you did to save Seven, then collapsed."

Annika nodded, remembering the totally drained feeling as she separated herself from Seven's systems. She had expended nearly all her body's supply of nanoprobes in her effort to save the younger woman. "I had nearly exhausted my supply of nanoprobes, and require regeneration to replenish my supply."

The Doctor nodded slowly, closing the medical tricorder, "I am reading abnormally low nanoprobe levels. If you need to regenerate, then please do so."

Annika nodded and rose to a sitting position on the biobed, taking her time before slipping off to stand. The doc watched concernedly as the woman walked slowly out of sickbay.

* * *

The concerned engineer followed the ex-drone out of the mess-hall. Seven was evidently heading to the holodeck and B'Elanna reached the door just as it shut. She was surprised when the door opened at her approach. She stepped in, and had to duck as a dagger grazed her head. She rolled to the side and came up crouched and ready to attack or retreat.

She saw Seven, stripped down to her black shorts, black shirt and traction slippers, a strange bladed weapon in hand as she spun through the melee of attackers. B'Elanna caught a gleam in her eye, and shuddered at the look of rage on Seven's aquiline face. The ex-drone spun, slashing out at her assailants, beheading one and slamming her bladed weapon into the side of another. Releasing the weapon, she drew a weapon from her fallen foe as she rolled forward and came up, gutting a third attacker.

B'Elanna was astonished at the violence of the young woman, but the precise controlled way she slashed through the melee indicated this wasn't the blind rage of the berzerker. "Seven!"

The blond glanced at her, spoke, "Computer, freeze program." The melee froze into a tableu of wax images, the ex-drone striding confidently out of the mass.

"Seven, what is this?" B'Elanna was both astonished and concerned by the young ex-Borg's actions.

Her astonishment grew as the tall, leggy blond suddenly embraced the compact half-Klingon, bursting into tears, "Oh, B'Elanna, they hate me..."

Awkwardly, the smaller woman patted the blond Borg's back gently, returning the hug as Seven sobbed into her shoulder. Well, this is a bit unexpected, she thought. "Seven, I can't speak for everyone, but I don't think the crew hates you. You do come off as condesending and arrogant, but that's your Borg upbringing and not your fault."

The blond nodded, sobbing uncontrollably as she tightened her embrace around the smaller woman, B'Elanna gasping as the preasure made it hard to breathe, "Thank you for being my friend, B'Elanna." Seven slowly got herself under control, sniffing a bit.

"There there, that's better. Where's that Borg efficiency?" B'Elanna's tone was light and encouraging, making Seven smile shyly at the smaller woman.

"I have damaged your uniform." Seven sounded contrite as B'Elanna noticed the stained spot on her shoulder where the Borg had rested her head.

"It's alright, Seven, I'll just replicate a new one," B'Elanna winced inwardly at the need for it, but controlled her annoyance. Seven had needed that cry more than she needed an extra replicator ration.

"What's going on? Seven? Have you been....crying?"

Seven glanced bashfully past the smaller woman and B'Elanna turned, seeing the Captain clad in her Velocity outfit, staring concernedly at Seven.

"Seven's been having a rough time, Captain," B'Elanna began, "Some of the crew have been....less than appreciative of her."

She wasn't sure how to continue, but Seven bowed her head, murmuring, "I overheard some disparaging comments in the messhall, Captain."

Janeway took a breath and nodded a bit, her auburn hair tied back in a ponytail for her workout. "I've hears similar stories before, but it didn't affect you this bad." She gazed intently at the ex-Borg, the tall woman's lower lip still trembling slightly. "How about you go see the doctor? We need to know if this has something to do with your experience in sickbay."

Seven hesitated a moment, then nodded, "I will go see him now," and strode out of the room. Janeway watched her go, then grinned slightly at B'Elanna.

"You'd better change before your lunchbreak ends. I'll authorize the replicator ration." B'Elanna nodded and headed out.

* * *

The Doctor had just returned to his office when the door opened again with a soft hiss. He sighed then came out again, "Seven? Back so soon?"

"I...had an unpleasant experience in the mess hall." The statuesque woman seemed uncomfortable.

"And? You were staying away from Neelix's cooking I hope." The Doctor picked up a tricorder and ran the scanning instrument over the young woman, frowning slightly in concentration.

"Yes. I had some 'chicken soup' from the replicator."

"This is odd." Seven turned slightly as the Doctor came back around to her front. "Your body has unusually high levels of endorphins. I suppose your new systems aren't designed to remove them as soon as their released. I take it your experience in the mess hall had emotional overtones?" He raised an eyebrow at the young woman.

"Yes. I overheard an ensign explaining her hope that I be kept out of Astrometrics in the future." Despite the calm way she spoke the sentance, the Doctor heard a slight tremble in her voice that spoke of the hurt the comment had caused the young woman. He sighed, closing the tricorder.

"Well, I can say that, medically, there's nothing wrong with you. In fact, this is actually probably a step forward for you. Until now, your nanoprobes have been removing your endorphins as soon as they've been released, reducing your emotions to a very low level. Now, however, they're not doing a thing to limit your endorphins, which means you'll be experiencing the full range and intensity of human emotions."

Seven shifted a bit uncomfortably, "I see. Is there some way to reinstate the nanoprobes in their former task?"

"You'll have to ask Annika that, Seven. She's the one who reprogrammed them for you. But if I may make a suggestion, don't resort to such a drastic measure until you've given yourself a chance to experience more emotions than just anger."

Seven sighed softly and nodded, realizing that this was a turning point in her ability to become more human. Nodding her thanks, she stepped quickly out of sickbay, tapping her commbadge. "Computere, locate Annika Hansen."

"Annika Hansen is in her quarters."

Nodding, the ex-Borg headed quickly to a turbolift, taking the conveyance down a deck to her quarters.

* * *

Annika had just finished a regeneration cycle and was stepping out of the alcove when Seven entered the small room that housed the two alcoves in their shared quarters. She raised an eyebrow at the young woman's rapid entry, "Something the matter, Seven?"

"Why did you remove the nanoprobes' ability to limit my emotions?"

Annika sighed softly, noting the tenseness in the younger woman, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. "It is integral to their new functioning, Seven. I had to remove that function to make room for other aspects."

Annika wasn't entirely surprised by Seven's sudden movement, catching the younger woman's arm as Seven tried to strike the older woman. The blonde sobbed suddenly, clutching Annika tightly, murmuring fervently, "You had no right...."

"If I didn't, Seven, both you would be dead now. And I would never have existed." She hugged the younger woman to her, stroking her back tenderly as she soothed away the other's fears and anguish.

It took a good five minutes before Seven got herself under control again, Annika smiling and offering her a small desert to get her spirits up. "Chear up, Seven, this is a big step on your road to being more human."

"I realize that....but I am not sure I am ready for this..."

"No one ever is ready for the surprises of life, Seven. It's a fact of life."

Seven nodded and sighed softly, finishing her sweet and deposting the plate in the replicator for recycling. "I suppose I should go back to Astrometrics."

"I think you should rest the rest of today, Seven."

Seven tensed, fists clenching, "What right doe you have to tell me what to do?" she growled.

Annika's eyebrows rose, "Temper, Seven. I just want you to get used to your new emotions. Can't have you decking people because you don't like what they say."

Seven slowly relaxed, sighing as she unclenched her hands, "I think I understand. I will regenerate now."

Annika nodded, "Probably a good idea. Let your body get used to the new situation. When you're done, stay here and go over the astrometrics reports. They've been stacking up durring your enforced vaction." The teasing tone in her voice and the sparkle in her eye made Seven smile slightly as she moved into her alcove, closing her eyes as the Borg technology interfaced with her body and she fell into the deep black of oblivion.

* * *

Janeway glanced up as the chime sounded in her ready room. "Come." The door swished open and Annika stepped in, carrying a padd in one hand, a couple more tucked under her arm. Janeway sat back, taking the moment to examine the woman. Older, fine lines etched on her aquiline features, her short, white hair swaying softly as she moved, the decorative swirls of metal on her face and hand indicating her time with the Borg. The woman glanced up, reguarding the auburn-haired captain. Although Janeway was fifteen years her junior, Annika looked only slightly older than the diminutive captain, due to her body's enhancement by the Borg collective.

"Captain. I have the proposal you asked for." Annika handed over the padd, showing a list of suggested improvements to Voyager's warp core that would allow the little ship to get home faster. At maximum warp, they were still over twenty years away from their home halfway across the galaxy.

"This is interesting. I recall reading about something similar with the early transwarp project almost nintey years ago."

"It was modeled after that design. It was extremely efficient for it's timeperiod." Annika's full-lipped mouth pulled slightly to one side in a little smile. The ex-Borg valued efficiency in all it's incarnations.

"That it was. Too bad the actual transwarp drive was based on faulty principles."

"Indeed."

Janeway glanced over the suggested improvements, nodding in approval. "These seem likely. Take them to B'Elanna. You'll work with her to install them." She glanced pointedly at the two other padds in the crook of Annika's arm.

The woman handed one of them over wordlessly. It was Seven's astrometrics data for the month, showing the new starcharts that had been added to the Federation's database. Janeway was impressed. Usually it took halfway into the next month for the charts to be readied for entering into the general database, and here it was only the third day into the new month. "She seems to have gotten these done remarkably quickly."

"I have been working with Seven to finallize the charts."

That explained it, of course. Annika was Seven from an alternate future, one where Janeway had gotten her ship home, but herself abducted by their greatest enemy, the Borg. From what little she had managed to coax from the older woman, Annika had found herself unable to cope with Janeway's loss and had intended to rescue her from the Borg.

Janeway glanced up at the third padd tucked up under the ex-Borg's arm, "And that one?"

Annika actually blushed slightly, startling Janeway as she hesitated slightly, "It is a...personal note, Captain. I trust that you will not share it with anyone."

Janeway blinked. That was...unexpected. She nodded in aquiescence as Annika handed over the padd, turning and striding out of the ready room. The captain sat for a while, lost in thought, then shrugged and sent the data on the second padd to the science department to be incorporated into the starcharts before activating the third padd. It had a letter.

Dear Captain;

I am writing this out due to the fact that I tend to loose track of what I am discussing when I am in your presence.

I wish you to understand why I found it necessary to attempt your rescue from the Unicomplex alone. In my time, you were abducted by

the collective just before Voyager exited a transwarp conduit to the Alpha Quadrant. You got us home, but you never made it back. I found

that unacceptable. But when I found myself seeing through the Queen's eyes that night as I regenerated, I learned that the reality was far

worse. You had not been assimilated. You had been treated far worse.

Janeway shivered slightly as she read that last line.

The Queen had partially assimilated you. You had Borg components bolstering your physical body, but as yet your mind was intact.

However, she had complete control of your physical form, and had you performing the most distasteful things imaginable. I will not go into

detail, but the look of horror and defeat in your eyes was more than I could bear. I woke up screaming the first few times, until I grew to

loathe having to regenerate, as it plunged me back into having to watch you suffer.

The Captain could imagine, and shuddered in surpressed horror at that fate. She read on.

When I lost Chakotay, I found myself withdrawing from my friends, retiring to Vulcan. When the visions intensified in horror and pain, I

faked my own destruction and sought out a space in which to plan and effect your eventual rescue. I had come to realize that the visions

were not accidental, that the Queen was torturing both you and I at the same time by making me witness what she did to you. I was

beyond her reach physically, but my mind has always been suceptable to her manipulations. She herself assimilated me originally, so I have

had a more intimate relation to the Queen than most drones. I researched and constructed the suit I traveled here in, and with some help

from B'Elanna, came back in time using an artificial wormhole. I did not mean to travel back in time, that was due to a temporal drift in the

wormhole's coordinates. However, I am glad I returned before your torture, as it allows me to prevent that suffering before it can destroy

the woman I have come to love.

Janeway blinked back tears at that last declaration. So Annika did love her. And she, on some level, had picked up on that, and was starting to reciprocate.

You are my Beloved. You hold my heart in your hand, and I place it there freely. I hope you have the compassion to return it if it is not what

you desire, and resist the temptation to toy with it. I do not expect you to answer my question now, for we still have much to learn of each

other, but I hope that we will explore our desires together, and perhaps find companionship in our closeness that will stand the tests of time.

Tears blurred Kathryn's eyes as she set the padd down, sniffling slightly as she leaned back in her chair. It was almost too much. Annika had obviously spent much time writing it. Janeway wasn't sure what to do. Annika wasn't a part of her crew, technically, she was a passenger. She couldn't hide behind the Captain mask with her, not for long if Annika pushed. And behind that mask, she knew that Annika had already found a home. Janeway had been surreptiously trying to gather as much information about the woman as she could. What she had been able to glean was a picture of a woman of strong passions with a more-than-vulcan ability to supress them in favor of an almost cold and dispassionate logic. That was a dangerous combination, able to concentrate a formidable intellect on solving an emotional problem.

But then again, that's why she's here, to rescue her beloved from the Borg.

And can I blame her for that? Didn't I do something similar with Seven?

Janeway shook herself slightly, returning to her reports and setting the letter asside for reading later.

Commander Chakotay, a strongfeatured bear of a man with sleek dark hair and a swirling tatoo over his left eye marking his Native American heritage, stepped into the Captain's ready room, in response to the summons by the captain. After a desultory talk over crew rotations, he picked up the stack of padds on the edge of the captain's desk. He nodded and headed back to the bridge, relieving Tuvok of command and settling into his chair as he perused the reports. When he got to the bottom Padd, however, he stiffened, then read and reread the letter Annika had written to Janeway.

This was going to cause problems.

* * *

Tom was not having a good day. First he had nearly been blown up when a protostar he had been studying in the Delta Flyer decided to ignite, then he had been royally reamed by the Captain for damaging the little ship, and finally B'Elanna had been avoiding him all day. He and the half-Klingon had been going out for a few months now, ever since the Captain had got them clear of Borg space, in fact. But lately, it seemed as if the fiesty engineer had no time for the boyishly handsome ace pilot. Frustrated, he strode into the holodeck and started up one of his favorite programs, a 20th-century garage, and slipped into a pair of holographic overalls.

Two hours later, having completely forgot about the time, he was startled when the program shut down automatically. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself Tom." B'Elanna's voice from the doorway and the way she was standing indicated that she was Not Pleased with him. The compact engineer was glowering at him. "Did you forget it was your turn to order out?"

He groaned inwardly, having forgot all about his promise to replicate dinner this night. "Oh, shoot, I thought I was forgetting something. I'll make it up to you, B'Elanna."

"No Tom. I've had it up to here with you forgetting every little promise you make. Go have dinner by yourself." With that the half-Klingon turned to go.

He stepped over and gripped her shoulder, turning her around and looking into her eyes, "I'm truely sorry B'Elanna. I really am. I just lost track of time."

Her eyes flashed as she batted his hands from her shoulders. "You've been 'forgetting' too often of late, Tom. I thought I ment more to you than your silly holoprograms. But if that's what you want to spend your time on, fine." She turned again.

Tom reached out once more to take her shoulder, and this time the half-Klingon grabbed his wrist, twisting him around and pulling it up hard against his back. "Don't. Touch. Me." Her voice rasped behind him, his eyes widening with the anger barely restrained in her voice. This wasn't like the B'Elanna he knew, she wouldn't use violence against him, there had to be a mistake somewhere. He just didn't figure out that HE was making it. B'Elanna released him and stalked away, her slender figure radiating her anger.

* * *

AN: Quick Update due to lack of other things to do. I finished the Just Between series (DAMN good fanfiction!) a couple days ago and my homework is stuff I can't do at home (it requires 2-ton machinery) so I can't do that. v.v Anyway, please read and review! it's the reviews that keep me interested in this, so if you like it, PLEASE TELL ME! ^^;


	4. Chapter 4 : Innovation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer:

This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the timeperiod on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

PPS: This chapter contains a slightly different take on the events of The Omega Directive. SPOILER WARNING! I've ripped some of the lines directly from the show, so if they seem familiar, that's why.

* * *

Commander Chakotay wandered the hallways. It wasn't his habit to do this, but that letter from Annika.... His mind roiled as pieces of a puzzle started at last to fit together. It explained why Annika had come back, even if it didn't explain how she had made an artificial wormhole. The bearing of her heart in that letter had let him know just how strong the emotion she felt for the Captain was. And that hurt, more than it should.

He hadn't realized just how close he had been getting to the captain until presented with a possible rival for her attention. He had supposed that if the captain ever reached out to anyone it would be someone near the top of her command structure, to minimize the impact a relationship would have on the crew. He frowned. Now, she had apparently found someone outside the command structure altogether.

He was outside his quarters again, just down the hall from Kathryn's. He hadn't really been watching where he had been going, and his legs had automatically taken him to his quarters. He hesitated, then strode down to the Captain's quarters and tapped the entrance chime.

"Come in," and the door slid open. He stepped into the familiar room, glancing to the couch where Kathryn sat, still in her uniform as she worked late. She glanced up in inquiry.

"Just returning this," He said and smiled, setting the padd with the letter down and heading out.

Kathryn was curious, she hadn't remembered lending him the padd. She picked it up and glanced at it. Her eyes widened as she saw Annika's letter. She glanced at the closed door and the icy hand of fear touched her heart. Had Chakotay read it?

She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to that.

* * *

B'Elanna was working out in the gym when she spotted Seven enter. The compact woman watched as the ex-Borg started with a series of stretches. She had always been amazed that Seven was so strong, but that was partly due to her Borg implants. Now, she was intrigued as Seven easily sunk down into a full split, stretching her long legs out as she limbered up. B'Elanna kept working on the treadmill as she watched the leggy blond go through the weight machines, easily maxing out on the arm- and leg-strength machines.

'Lanna was surprised the Borg had come in, but not overly so. This was the timeperiod where the secondary holodeck was turned into a gym for the convenience of the crew, though she hadn't seen Seven in here before. The ex-drone took one of the treadmills in the row in front of B'Elanna. A couple other crewmen were also in here, a few on the weights and a couple on the bikes. More than one pair of appreciative eyes had watched the ex-Borg as she continued her workout, and the half-Klingon found it difficult to keep her eyes off the trim, fit body. The way those long legs pumped steadily on the treadmill, the way that round rump flexed as she ran, the way her torso twisted, showing off her frontal assets-

B'Elanna shook her head to clear such thoughts out of her head, and settled down to her own exercise.

* * *

Tom was lost. B'Elanna had made it abundantly clear she hadn't wanted him to come back, but he had left a number of things in their shared quarters, and he wasn't sure if she was still home. His wrist had ached all day yesterday from the twist she had given it, but he didn't want to go to the Doctor about it for fear the Doc would figure out what had happened.

He slipped into the gym, more out of a desire to look around than a desire to exercise, and froze in the doorway. He had a good look and left. So that was it. His unhurt hand clenched tight as his eyes narrowed. Alright. If B'Elanna was interested like that, he'd make sure the entire ship knew about it.

The look in B'Elanna's eye as she watched Seven running haunted him all they way back to his quarters.

* * *

It was the near the end of Gamma shift when the shockwave overtook the ship.

It came up so fast the sensors barely had time to warn Kim before the ship suddenly dropped out of warp and violently threw the crew forward. Kim managed to retain his grip on the captain's chair's arms, keeping his seat, but a crewmember was thrown over the rail separating the upper deck from the lower. He helped her to her feet as he called, "Report!"

"It was a massive particle wave, sir. Subspace was destabilized and our warp field collapsed."

"Casualties?"

"None so far."

"Inform the captain....?"

At that moment, the main viewscreen shifted. Instead of the stationary starfield, a symbol appeared. Harry recognized it as the greek letter Omega, but he was totally confused as to why the computer would be displaying this symbol. He glanced around and noted that all displays were showing the same symbol.

The captain, evidently woken when the ship lurched, stepped onto the bridge, still adjusting her tunic and tapped a few keys on a workstation. The symbol cleared as the ship returned to normal.

"Captain?"

"Send all sensor data about the particle wave to my Ready room. Ensign, disengage engines and hold position here."

Harry looked bewildered as he nodded, "Captain, what's going on?"

Janeway looked slightly defensive as she glanced down at him, "I can't explain right now. Don't discuss any of this with the rest of the crew. I'll have further instructions for you soon."

She quickly stepped into her ready room.

The lights brightened abruptly as the computer spoke calmly that it was now 0600 hours. At least some things never changed.

* * *

An hour later in Engineering, B'Elanna, Tom, Annika and Seven were recieving orders from Commander Chakotay. The commander was pointedly ignoring Annika, speaking to Seven in her place, something that Annika was trying to figure out. She had recognized the symbol as easily as Seven had, and had shown up despite not being invited to this meeting, but that still didn't explain why Chakotay was ignoring her.

He finished handing out assignements as Tom spoke up, "These modifications would be a lot easier to do if we had a clue what this was about, Sir."

"I'm as much in the dark about this as you are, Tom. All I know is that this has something to do with the Omega Directive, whatever that is."

Annika nodded slowly, the words confirming her theory. Seven startled slightly and glanced at Annika as Chakotay spoke to her, "The captain wants the two of you in her ready room."

"I'm sure she does," was Seven's reply.

The two ex-Borg set off to the Bridge as Chakotay looked after them, shaking his head. The captain and Annika? No. It couldn't be.

* * *

The chime sounded in the captain's ready room. Kathryn sighed, leaning back. It was Omega alright, no disputing that power signature. She had hoped it was a false positive, but that hope had been dashed. Now she wasn't looking forward to having to tell the two people on the ship who knew as well as she did how powerful Omega was.

"Come in."

The two tall ex-Borg strode into the room in lockstep, as unconcious of their similarity as ever. The sight sent a thrill up Kathryn's spine as the shorthaired and slightly older-looking one took a step forward. "You've found Omega."

"Yes. As you're no doubt aware. The Borg have assimilated Starfleet captains before, you'd know about the Directive."

Annika nodded solemly. "You must not carry out that directive Captain."

"I must. Otherwise I'd be disobeying a direct order from the highest authority in Starfleet."

"If you do not disobey that order, you doom yourself to another twenty years in the Delta quadrant, and perhaps the fate of Starfleet as well."

Kathryn rose, staring intently at the older woman. Her eyes were the deep grey of anger as she strode around her desk, standing face to face with Annika. "You know the risks of Omega. You know what's at stake."

"Yes. I know Omega's power far better than you do, Captain." She glanced over her shoulder at Seven. "Even more than the Borg."

Kathryn hesitated, her gaze inquiring, demanding an explaination. Annika gazed back impassively, her face expressionless. "In the thirty years after Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant, I spent much time studying the data I had from the Borg and my experiences here. I found a way to stabilize Omega. Not even the Borg have found a way to keep Omega stable. My suit is powered by 25 of the molecules."

The shock of the revelation that she had Omega, Stable Omega! on board for months without knowing it hit Kathryn like a hammerblow. She swayed slightly and Annika caught her elbow, helping her to sit on the edge of the desk. "You....you've harnessed Omega?" The awe in her voice caused the statuesque woman's lips to quirk in a small smile.

"When these events happend in my timeline, I helped you destroy the molecules. However, for just over three seconds, just before we were forced to jetison the molecules and destroy them with a gravimetric torpedo, they stabilized spontaneously. I extrapolated on the data that incident gave me and found a way to keep Omega stable. I sought out the ore necessary and synthesized a few dozen molecules, which I stabilized and used to power my station and starsuit."

The captain just nodded, shock deadening her mind to external senses. Annika caught the captain as she slowly slid off the desk. She smiled softly at the woman as she carried her to the couch, glancing back at the wide-eyed Seven, "Get the Doctor." Seven nodded and called for the Doctor. He entered a few minutes later, pulling a tricorder and asking what happened.

"I belive she fainted, Doctor." The amusement was plain in Annika's voice, making the Doc look at her with both surprise and consternation.

"The Captain....fainted? Well, that's one for the record books."

Kathryn stirred, looking up at Annika and the Doctor, "Wha...What happened?"

"You....fainted, Captain."

At that comment, she flushed in embarrasment, shooing the Doctor away and giving Annika a patented Force 3 Janeway Glare. The woman merely smiled slightly and thanked the Doctor for his prompt appearance, Seven ushering him out of the room before coming back and watching the two older women.

"So. You've harnessed Omega, Annika?"

"That is correct, Kath- Captain."

The slip of the tongue didn't go unnoticed, but Janeway let it pass for now. "If you think there will be no further danger to the ship, then perhaps we can stabilize this batch of Omega for whoever it is that made it. That would not only promote goodwill between the Federation and this species, but also prevent a catastrophe from destroying the quadrant." A wry grin twisted the captain's features. "I hope I get a chance to explain my actions at my court marshal."

Annika grinned widely, "I will require Lt Torres and Seven in setting up the harmonic resonance chamber. I will also require a good deal of assistance from Engineering in constructing the chamber."

The captain nodded, "Take whatever help you need." She stood as Annika and Seven nodded and headed out. Omega. With that powering the ship, they'd not need to divert every month or so to find dilithium for the warp core. She slowly smiled as she realized it would also speed their route back home if they didn't need to hunt for the fuel that sped the ship on her way.

Things were at last starting to go her way.

* * *

Cargo bay one was as busy as a beehive. Annika was nominally in charge, but she, Seven and B'Elanna were each coordinating a team of people in constructing the harmonic resonance chamber. Work was progressing steadily as the ship neared the source of the explosion.

"All Senior staff to the briefing room."

Annika raised an eyebrow at Torres and Seven. The fiesty engineer had been trying to get information on why they were making the chamber ever since they had started. Now, it seems as if they would not have to hold back the information.

The senior staff assembled in the briefing room, Annika and Seven standing to one side of the viewscreen as Janeway strode in.

She stood at the head of the table and spoke, "If we were in the Alpha Quadrant right now, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd be in contact with Starfleet Command, and they'd send in a specialised team to deal with the crisis. In their absence, we're going to have to make do with the training I've received, and the knowledge Seven of Nine has retained from the Borg. You've all seen this symbol. Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Chosen by Starfleet to represent a threat not only to the Federation, but to the entire galaxy. Only starship Captains and Federation Flag Officers have been briefed on the nature of this threat. What you're about to hear will not go beyond these bulkheads, is that clear?"

The staff nodded as they straightened in their seats. This seemed more important than they had thought possible.

Janeway gave them a raking stare, "Good." She nodded to Seven who tapped a control on the viewscreen. A molecule appeared. Geodesic, like a buckminster fullerine like a Carbon-60 molecule, but far more complicated. And at the center glowed a blue-white spark. "This is Omega."

Tom Paris broke in, "A molecule?"

"Not just any molecule. The most powerful substance known to exist. A single Omega molecule contains the same energy as a warp core. In theory, a small chain of them could sustain a civilisation. The molecule was first synthesised over a hundred years ago, by a Starfleet physicist named Ketteract. I think he was hoping to develop an inexhaustible power source."

Janeway strode over to the viewscreen, "Ketteract managed to synthesise a single molecule particle of Omega but it only existed for a fraction of a second before it destabilised. This was a classified research station in the Lantaru Sector. Ketteract and one hundred twenty-six of the Federation's leading scientists were lost in the accident. Rescue teams attempting to reach the site discovered an unexpected secondary effect. There were subspace ruptures extending out several light years."

Tom straightened, remembering something from his accademy days, "The Lantaru Sector. It's impossible to create a stable warp field there. You can only fly through it at sublight speeds. I was always told that was a natural phenomenon. You're saying it was caused by a single molecule of this stuff?"

Janeway nodded to him, "Omega destroys subspace. A chain reaction involving a handful of molecules could devastate subspace throughout an entire Quadrant. If that were to happen, warp travel would become impossible. Space-faring civilisation as we know it would cease to exist. When Starfleet realised Omega's power, they suppressed all knowledge of it."

The Doctor spoke up, "Have you detected Omega here, in the Delta Quadrant?" Janeway nodded.

"However, now that Annika has enlightened me about certain aspects of the suit she brought back," Janeway nodded respectfully to the older ex-drone, "I am going to disregard the Omega Directive."

Chakotay blinked and cocked his head at her, "Disregard it?"

Janeway nodded, "Omega was to be destroyed at all costs. However, Annika has informed me she has a reliable way to stabilize Omega." A slow smile spread across her face as B'Elanna straightened, her eyes widening. "Yes, we can harness Omega. Like when Prometheus stole fire and gave it to Man, we have the capability of harnessing the most powerful source of energy in the universe."

She turned to the pilot, "Tom, I've calculated the location of the molecules. I'll transfer the co-ordinates to the helm. Take us there at full impulse."

"Aye, Ma'am!" The staff meeting broke up in hushed, excited whispers. The look on the chief engineer's face was priceless, like a little girl opening the best Christmas present ever.

Tom carefully avoided looking at her.

* * *

Janeway stepped out of the turbolift and down to her command chair as she glanced up at the viewscreen. It showed a small moon orbitting a gas giant, a plume of blue energy dispersing through the atmosphere.

"Report."

"We've entered orbit," the Commander replied, "There's a subnucleonic reaction occurring in the upper atmosphere. It is apparently emanating from a structure on the moon's surface."

"On screen."

The view shifted to a closer view, a massive crater blasted in the surface. In the center, however, a spire of rock rose to a central plateau with the remains of a science station on it. From the debris littered around the crater, there once had been a city where the crater was.

"My god...." Janeway's inarticulate whisper caught Annika's attention as she stepped out of the turbolift. Seven was still coordinating the group in the cargobay. She gazed at the sight, remembering when she was here last.

Ensign Harry Kim gulped and reported, "Over three hundred thousand square kilometres destroyed."

"Scan the structure. Are there any Omega molecules remaining?"

Tuvok attempted to do so, "I can't tell. Several sections of the outpost are still shielded."

Janeway rose, "Harry, can we transport to the surface?"

The ensign hesitated slightly, then shrugged, "I can get you there but conditions in the structure aren't good. There are high levels of radiation."

Janeway nodded, "Tuvok, assemble a rescue team and have them report to Sickbay for arithrazine inoculations. Tell the Doctor to prepare for casualties. Tom, move Voyager into a high orbit, then join the away team. We'll need a field medic."

Tuvok nodded, stepping into the turbolift as Paris rose, "Yes Ma'am."

Chakotay blocked Kathryn's path to the lift, "You're going with them?"

The captain glanced to the viewscreen, the blasted landscape spread out beneath them, "If Omega's still down there, I have to find it. I'll keep an open commlink with the ship. You have the Bridge."

Annika stepped into the turbolift with the Captain, who sent her a questioning glance. "I intend to join the away team. I cannot let you risk yourself in the unstable structure." After a moment's hesitation, Janeway nodded in aquiesence.

* * *

The away team materialized in a blasted, fire-gutted chamber, the walls and ceiling blackened by some explosion, every console smashed, and parts of the wall had apparently melted and cooled. Janeway and the rest of the away team switched on their handlamps, looking around. Janeway, Tuvok and Annika pulled out their tricorders, spreading out as they scanned the chamber. Janeway frowned, "I'm picking up Omega's resonance frequency. It's here but I can't pinpoint a location."

"Here Captain." Annika's voice came from around a corner.

Janeway and Tuvok joined her at a massive door, fully three meters high and two across. From the partially-melted state, this seemed to be where the explosion had originated. "The duritanium has melted into the door frame. We will need to cut through the metal with phasers."

After a few minutes of cutting through the durable metal with narrow-beam phasers, the trio heard the clank as the metal locking posts broke free. Annika nodded to the other two, "Stand clear."

Janeway hesitated, the look of concern on her face. Annika smiled slightly, "Do not worry. I have reactivated my Borg shielding for this mission. I will not be damaged."

Ahh, that explains the faint green shimmer around her, Janeway thought as she nodded and shooed Tuvok back.

The woman gripped the massive Duritanium door with both hands. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then with the creak of protesting metal that made Janeway and Tuvok look upward in aprehension, she slowly pulled the door out of the doorframe. Grunting slightly with the effort, she pushed it to the side, creating a narrow gap that allowed them access to the primary control room.

Janeway ducked through, Tuvok following and Annika behind him, panting from her exertion. Janeway stood again and looked back in awe as she saw the half-meter thick door resting upright where Annika had dragged it. "That must have been a workout."

Annika grinned at her, too exhausted to speak as she sat next to the door. Janeway and Tuvok scanned the chamber, which seemed remarkably intact. They found a computer terminal that appeared undamaged and Tuvok reactivated it with a Starfleet powerpack, Janeway typing furiously. She looked up in apprehension as a clank sounded and a blast shutter slowly ground open. The radiant blue light that flooded over her face made her appear ghostlike in the eerie light. Annika rose and came to stand beside her, staring through the shutter into a mass of Omega. The shimmering mass seemed to stare back at them as Janeway gazed in awe at Omega. She glanced at Annika standing beside her. "That's Omega?"

Annika nodded slowly, murmuring as if to herself, "For I have walked eternity, and looked into the Eye of God."

Janeway blinked at the older woman, "Excuse me?"

Annika shook herself and smiled at the older woman, "Pardon me, I still feel awe at the sight of Omega."

Janeway hesitated a second, then nodded slowly as she contacted the ship, "Janeway to Seven. How is the chamber coming?"

Seven's voice crackled through the interferance, "We shall have completed the chamber in the next fifteen point three minutes."

"Good. We'll try to find a way to shut down the containment field when you contact us."

"Chakotay to Captain!"

Janeway blinked, "Go ahead."

"We have two ships on an intercept cource from the inhabited planet on the far side of the system. They're not responding to hails."

"Understood. How long until they get here?"

"Seventeen minutes."

"Just barely enough time. Send a team down here with transport enhancers. We'll need them to transport Omega to the ship."

"Acknowledged, Captain."

Janeway glanced to Annika, who was gazing into Omega again, "Come on, you can look at your god once we get it beamed onto the ship."

Annika nodded and turned to assist the captain.

* * *

Seven was putting the finishing touches on the chamber when the call came. "Chakotay to Seven."

She tapped her commbadge, "Yes, Commander."

"The alien ships are almost in range, have you got the containment chamber running yet?"

The chamber took that moment to power up, glowing softly with it's ready lights. Seven smiled slightly in satisfaction, "Yes. It just came online."

"Good. We're only going to get one shot at this. Make it count."

"Understood, Commander."

* * *

On the bridge, Chakotay nodded to Paris, who exhaled and turned back to his controls. He took the ship into a steep dive, slicing through the upper atmosphere to get to a position needed to be able to safely beam the molecules into containment. Harry called out the rising hull temperature as the ship leveled out, the subnucleonic reaction around the ship flashing against the hull, the shields down to allow transport.

"Seven of Nine to the Bridge. We have the molecules. The Captain is heading to the bridge."

"Acknowleged. Tom, get us out of here, maximum warp as soon as we're clear of the subspace distortions."

At that moment, the two small ships shot past Voyager as she emerged from the planet's atmosphere, firing across her bow.

"We're being hailed!" Harry warned.

The captain came onto the bridge just in time to hear his warning, "Open a channel."

The alien ships were replaced by a face, filling the viewscreen, "Disengage your engines and prepare to be boarded."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Sir. This technology you've discovered is a danger to you and to your system. If these molecules were to chain react, it would not only destroy the moon, but perhaps the star itself. We will remove them safely beyond your star system for you and dispose of them carefuly so there will be no lingering harmful effects. Even so, it is possible the initial detonation may have permanent effects on the lifespan of your star."

The alien seemed taken aback by the frankness of the captain's speach, "You...will? Why? What do you want?"

"We are primarily explorers, but we've found this technology in many different hands. It's too dangerous to allow to those who don't fully understand the risks involved, therefore, we must intercede on your behalf to save you from destroying your starsystem. It may already be too late. The passage through your atmosphere weakened our containment vessel. If the vessel destabilizes, the shockwave would not only disperse the moon, but perhaps the gas giant as well. Not only that, but it would start a chain reaction in the star's core that will result in it's premature expansion into a red giant, destroying your homeworld."

The alien tensed, "We did not realize the danger this substance posed. Please, remove it to a safe distance as soon as possible."

Janeway nodded, feeling slightly slimy as she decieved the alien, "If you'd care to escort us...."

"Of course."

Janeway nodded to Tom, "Set course for the edge of the system, let us know when we've cleared the disturbances." The pilot nodded as the alien frowned.

"What disturbances?"

"Space in this system is already saturated with the radiation from the initial explosion. It will disapate naturally, probably only shortening your star's lifespan by a few million years, not enough to cause a problem. But it does mean that any further radiation from our disposal technique would probably cause a chain reaction in the star. Much better to dispose of the molecules in a place where it won't affect your star's lifespan."

The alien nodded slightly, closing the channel. Janeway sighed in relief. "That was trying."

Chakotay raised an eyebrow sardonically, "You even had me going for a minute there."

Janeway grinned at him, then nodded to Tom, "As soon as we're clear of the subspace distortions, go to maximum warp."

"Aye, Ma'am."

* * *

Janeway was still feeling a bit guilty at having decieved the aliens, but Omega was far too dangerous in uneducated hands. Annika had explained how she had simulated over a thousand different ways to stabilize Omega before at last being able to test her theories. Torres was rigging a new power core for the ship, as happy as Janeway had ever seen her. Replacing the warpcore was a major challenge for the engineer, and one she was attacking with gusto. She and Seven were working on augmenting the nacelles with Omega containment pods, and rigging the warpcore with an alternate feedline to the new power source.

She slipped into the mess hall, the lights dark this early in the morning. Annika looked up from perusing a padd, smiling at the captain, who smiled back, ordering a coffee from the replicator. "Are you having trouble sleeping, Captain?"

Janeway shrugged a little as she sat on the couch with the older woman, sipping her steaming drink, "A little. I can't help but feel a bit guilty we stole Omega from those people."

"We did save them from a catastrophic destabilization of subspace, Captain."

"True, but that doesn't mean my deception was necessary."

Annika studdied the captain intently, "You aren't really worried about the deception. You've done similar things on numerous occasions, and will in the future."

Janeway smiled wryly. Annika would know about that last bit. "You're right. I'm more worried about what Starfleet would say if they knew I had decided to harness Omega."

Annika set her padd down and took the Captain's hand between hers. Kathryn blinked and looked askance as Annika, but the ex-Borg didn't release her hand. "What starfleet thinks or does is irrelevent. You did what you had to do to save a species from self-destruction. Even if it was a violation of the Prime Directive, you would have been forced to disregard that protocall by the Omega Directive anyway, so you cannot be held accountable for that. The Omega Directive was put in place by people who were terrified of their discovery, similar to the people who thought that atomic power would destroy the world."

"But atomic weapons nearly DID destroy Earth," Kathryn said gently.

"Irrelevant. They let their fear of the weapon blind them to their fear of the hand that weilded it. The weapon itself is not to blame for the actions of those who wield it. Do you court marshal a phaser for killing someone? No, you remove the phaser from the killer and keep it as evidence, eventually to be returned to someone more trustworthy."

Janeway nodded slowly as the ex-Borg's argument sunk home. She could understand and accept what the woman was saying.

"I still violated a direct order, Annika."

"I realize that. But in exchange, you're bringing home a technology that will advance Federation science at least thirty decades, if not more."

Janeway felt the knot in her heart slowly unknot as Annika's words soothed away her fears. She smiled brightly at the woman, who beamed brilliantly back at her. Chakotay, who had been standing in the doorway for a minute or so, unnoticed, turned and headed back to his quarters.

* * *

AN: Wow. I managed to write almost all of that in about 3 hours, durring a class, in fact. ^^; Anyway, Please, Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5 : Exploration

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

* * *

Seven strode into engineering, glanced around, and spotted B'Elanna Torres, the ship's chief engineer, on the upper level. Stepping into a lift, she approached the petite, dynamic half-Klingon. "Lt Torres. I require your assistance in implementing these modifications to the warp core." She handed the smaller woman a padd.

B'Elanna had not had a good day. After having Tom try to 'make up' to her by bringing over a bunch of flowers and trying to talk her back into his arms, the fly boy hadn't taken "no" for an answer, and she had to send him to sickbay after she threw him out of her quarters, sending that absurd TV set after him. Then she'd reported for duty and found that Gamma shift had let the engine run too hot overnight, burning through a conduit and almost overloading the EPS grid, and now Seven wanted her to do some major overhauls to the core? "Not right now, Seven, huh?"

Seven arched her left eyebrow. The gleaming, angular metal design there flashed slightly, the remnant of her time in the Borg Collective, reformatted into a new configuration by her older self, Annika, who had traveled back in time to prevent the Captain's thirty years of torture. "These changes would improve warp core efficiency with the new Omega power cores by 15%."

"I've got a lot on my plate right now, Seven, maybe when I don't have a crisis on my hands." B'Elanna brushed past the ex-Borg, moving to another console.

"I have noticed that you do not accept my recommendations easily, Lt Torres. Is it because you feel the Captain wouldn't require you if I were to demonstrate superior engineering skills?"

The question was phrased with the Borg's usual lack of humility, and B'Elanna snapped. That, coming on top of the already-horrid day she had had so far, and the mess she had to deal with was too much for her. She whirled and glared up at the ex-drone, her eyes flashing. "You may have all that insufferable Borg superiority in Astrometrics, but in here I am in charge. If you don't like it, get the HELL out of my engine room!" That last was shouted so loudly that everyone in engineering stared up at the pair.

Seven was shocked. Although it was usual for B'Elanna to get into arguments with her, it was unusual for it to escalate to shouting this quickly. But more importantly at the moment, Seven felt her chest constrict, her breath coming in shallow gasps, and a deep ache in her heart. Without thinking further about what she was doing, she stepped forward and backhanded the engineer once across the face, using her unenhanced right hand.

The loud slap was heard all over engineering. People froze in their tracks. This was unheard of. The Borg had gone too far this time. B'Elanna's look of shock and disbelief slowly gave way to a look of searing anger. Seven's eyes started to tear on realizing what she had done and she quickly turned, fleeing engineering by the fastest route. B'Elanna's fury at the Borg's slap drained out of her as she saw the look of horror on Seven's face, the young woman fleeing Engineering rapidly. She shook her head to clear it. That slap had sent her back into a bulkhead, bashing the back of her head into the metal and making her ears sing. She gingerly felt her jaw. Nothing broken, that's a relief. But stars erupted in her line of vision every time she turned her head. She took the lift down to the main deck, gestured to Lt Carey, putting him in charge as she gingerly walked to a Turbolift. "Deck 5, Sickbay."

* * *

Tuvok and two security officers stopped in front of the doors of Holodeck 2. According to the computer, Seven of Nine was in here. When the Doctor made his report to Tuvok about Seven's actions in Engineering, he was under obligation to arrest her and bring her to the Captain for her actions. He nodded to the security man at the controls. The man tapped a key and the door opened, revealing the inside of a Borg cube. Tuvok raised his phaser rifle, adjusting it to a rotating modulation. The last time Seven had done something like this, she had been acting under the influence of a Borg signal from her parent's ship, and it had reactivated her Borg body shields, so he was taking no chances.

He and the two security guards moved in, sweeping through the corridors of the Borg vessel. Eventually, he found Seven, crouched in the middle of a wide area, about a dozen Borg drones dismembered or otherwise disabled around her. She was whimpering slightly, huddled in the fetal position against a bulkhead, face buried against her knees. As Tuvok approached, she raised her head, revealing that she had been crying copiously. Tuvok had never known Seven to display any strong emotion, and he tended to think of her as Vulcan in her control. The sight of that beautiful aquiline countenance streaked with tears and with eyes red from prolonged sorrow sent a chill through him, which he quickly clamped down firmly on. This was no time to let his emotions any freedom.

"Seven of Nine. Come with me."

The ex-Borg nodded mutely, getting to her feet. Her posture was no longer one of assured self-confidence, but slumped in defeat as she followed the chief of security out of the holodeck.

* * *

Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager sat back in her ready room chair and sighed. The doctor had repaired the hairline fracture of B'Elanna's jaw and treated her for a concussion, but that didn't mitigate the fact that one of her crew had struck her chief engineer. She frowned slightly. This was serious. Seven had to learn to control herself. True, this was the first incident where Seven had struck anyone when not under the control of the Borg, but she should have had better self-control than that. Seven was so emotionally flat that Janeway had to coax her to get her to open up to the Captain about what she was feeling. That Seven actually struck anyone in anger....

The door chimed and Janeway straightened in her chair. Time to get this over with. "Come."

The door slid open to reveal Tuvok. He stepped in, followed by Seven and two security guards. Janeway suppressed her surprise. Seven looked beaten, defeated, her cheeks smeared with grime and streaked where tears had wound their way down her aristocratic features. She slumped as she stood, like one broken in spirit, and didn't look up as she was brought before the Captain. Janeway glanced concernedly at Tuvok, but the Vulcan was as impassive as ever. Janeway hesitated for a moment, then gestured for Tuvok to leave. He arched an eyebrow and she gestured again. He gathered up the security men with his eyes and the trio left the Captain's ready room.

Janeway got up, came around the desk and put her hands on Seven's shoulders. "Seven? What's wrong?" Her voice was tender, concerned.

Seven didn't answer for a moment, then whimpered softly, sobbing as she spoke, "I struck her, Captain. I struck B'Elanna. I didn't mean to, I just felt so hurt inside I had to lash out." She rested a hand on her chest, to indicate where she hurt.

Janeway paused. This was new. Seven usually didn't get emotional about her spats with B'Elanna, just ignored them as irrelevant, and went on about her business. If she was hurt, truly hurt by B'Elanna's comments, perhaps the young woman hadn't been able to control herself. She gently brought the young woman over to the couch on the upper level, sitting down beside her as she gently stroked the young woman's back. "Seven, what's bothering you?"

Seven shivered, tears forming in her eyes. "She hates me now. I struck her, she'll never want me around anymore."

Janeway recognized the symptoms now. Something B'Elanna had said had made the young woman snap, and now she was feeling profound remorse for her action. Not just the guilt associated with having inflicted injury, which the young woman was still developing, this was deeper. It seemed as if the ex-drone was profoundly affected by having struck B'Elanna in particular, though why was still a mystery. Janeway gently stroked Seven's back, letting the woman tell her story at her own pace.

Seven cried softly for a while, at last getting herself under control as she told her story. "I had asked her for help in modifying the warp core slightly to improve efficiency, and she rejected my proposal. I made a comment about how she might be afraid I would take over her job, and she screamed at me to get out of Engineering. I do not know what came over me, but I felt as if I couldn't breath, my chest ached, and I struck her without thinking about it. When I realized what I did, I needed to be alone for a while, so I went to the holodeck."

Janeway nodded slowly. Now it made sense. Even if B'Elanna didn't return the young woman's feelings, Seven still cared deeply for B'Elanna. That was why the screamed order to leave hurt so much. Seven was still learning how to deal with the emotions her reformatted implants were allowing her to experience, and going through all the trials and tribulations of growing up all at once. No wonder she reacted by lashing out at what had hurt her. And now she was paying for it. Janeway sighed, unsure what to do. At that moment, the door chimed. Janeway blinked, now who could that be? "Come."

* * *

B'Elanna walked in and froze. Damn it, so the Borg had gotten to the Captain first. That was when she noticed the abject look in Seven's eyes, the tear stained cheeks, and the general sense that the Borg was profoundly upset and the half-Klingon hesitated. What the hell was going on here? "Captain? Is this a bad time?"

Janeway thought a moment. This would be the perfect opportunity to patch things up between the pair. Even if B'Elanna didn't return Seven's feelings, it would do the ex-Borg good to know that B'Elanna didn't hate her. "No, actually, this is probably the perfect time."

The chief engineer stepped closer, not quite sure what was going on. "Captain?"

Janeway stroked Seven's back gently, the ex-Borg's look of profound sorrow directed down at the floor. "I think Seven has something she needs to tell you."

B'Elanna's jaw tightened. She didn't want to speak to the Borg, but she nodded slightly. Seven spoke then, and the amount of self-loathing in her voice made B'Elanna's eyes widen. "I'm sorry I struck you, B'Elanna. I don't ask your forgiveness, just please realize how much your words can hurt me."

B'Elanna was stunned. 'So, that damn Borg shell was just that, a shell. And she had hurt the woman inside. Damn damn damn.' Her righteous anger about the Borg's actions drained away when she realized that the Borg was already punishing herself far more thoroughly than she or even the Captain could. 'Wow. She really must be hurting to apologize like that.' She spoke softly to the ex-drone, "I... I think I can forgive you for striking me, Seven, if you can forgive me for speaking angrily to you."

Seven let out a soft moan, shuddering slightly, as if expelling the grief that had been consuming her. Janeway slowly stroked the woman's back as she nodded understandingly to B'Elanna.

At last, things were starting to go right for them.

* * *

Annika was out. Out among the stars. Her suit hummed softly around her as she sped alongside Voyager, darting past windows like a dolphin following a sailing ship and for the same reason, for the sheer joy of it. A wide smile spread over her lips as she slowed, turning to wave in through the mess-hall windows, startling Neelix into dropping a pot. Empty, thank goodness. With a soft laugh, she darted on, pausing by windows long enough to attract the attention of anyone who might be inside, finally turning and speeding ahead, increasing power to her warp-wings and flying through the blackness between stars faster than the ship behind her could keep up. It was exhilarating.

At last, she returned to the shuttle bay, coming to land like an angel returning to a cloud, her gleaming-black suit lit by emerald telltales as she stepped into the alcove by the Delta Flyer, activating the automatic sequence that disassembled the suit around her, helmet, gloves, chest plate, wings, back plate, arm and leg armors, and finally stepping out of the boots, clad now in tight black shorts and t-shirt and traction slippers. She nodded to the crewman on duty, grinning slightly as she he beamed back at her. Ensign D'bonias had made it a point of always being on duty when Annika decided to go out flying. She exited the shuttle bay, heading back to her quarters.

A good fly had been just the thing to relax her before her weekly regeneration.

* * *

Chakotay was torn. On the one hand, he wanted Janeway to be happy, on the other hand, he also wanted her himself. He realized it would be impractical for Janeway to initiate a romantic relationship with a crew member, but he figured that if she had to, it should be someone as close to her level in the command structure as possible, which meant him.

He sighed softly, glancing at the captain's ready room door and getting up from his command chair. "You have the bridge, Mr. Tuvok."

The Vulcan nodded, stepping from tactical to take up the command chair as Commander Chakotay strode up to the ready-room door, tapping the chime. He stepped in at the Captain's "Come."

Janeway looked up as he entered. "What is it, Commander?"

Chakotay moved closer to the desk. "I have something of a confession to make."

Janeway felt the cold hand of fear run up her spine. He had read that letter then.

"I mistakenly picked up a padd of yours here. I read it before I realized what it was. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," he said, backing up at the look of ire in the Captain's eyes, "but I had read half of it before I realized what it was. I returned it as soon as I could. What I meant to ask was┘" he paused.

Janeway glared at him, at least a Force 5, maybe a Force 7. What right did he have to intrude on her personal life. True, they had been close on that planet a few years back, when they had been forced to be left behind due to a contagious disease, but she had gotten over that, and was back to a professional level with her second in command.

"Do you have feelings for Annika?" He backed up another pace as her glare intensified. "I only ask because I had thought that you and I had something, Captain, and I can't take not knowing where I stand with my commanding officer."

Janeway tried to get her anger under control. His was a perfectly reasonable question, not provocation. She could handle this. "My relationship with you is a purely professional one, Commander, but I would like to still call you friend."

Chakotay nodded and sighed. He had held out hopes so long, but now it seemed as if those hopes were just that, hopes. Nothing based in reality. "I see. Thank you for clarifying that, Captain." He hesitated, "May I ask your intentions towards Annika? I ask as the Commander now, and as a friend."

Janeway hesitated. She wasn't quite sure how she should take the woman's letter. She enjoyed her time with Annika, enjoyed the witty way the woman would dissect her fallacies, and the way the woman would seemingly take off on a tangent, only to link it back to the original topic in such a way that it would make Kathryn laugh. She sighed, "I can't answer that one right now, Commander. I'll let you know when I know."

Chakotay nodded and exited the ready room. The Captain sat for a while, then took a sip of coffee and turned back to her reports.

* * *

Tom was relaxing in Sandrine's. He'd already casually hinted that B'Elanna had eyes on the Ice Queen to several crew members, who had bought him drinks to help him 'drown his grief' over his sweetheart's desertion. At least something was working out in his favor. He'd even managed to get quite a few replicator rations off a couple crewmen from Biometrics playing pool to replace the TV B'Elanna had wrecked throwing it out of their quarters.

He glanced around as the door slid open, unable to see who had come in. Ah, well, it was open-time on the holodeck right now, so anyone who wanted could come in. He spotted a familiar plum catsuit across the pool table, sliding onto a barstool and gritted his teeth, almost missing his shot in his anger. HER! Why would SHE come here? Disgusted, he finished the game quickly, making a brilliant triple-banked shot to sink his last ball and the 8-ball with the cue after another bounce. Collecting his winnings, he strode over to the bar where Seven was sipping her drink. "Unusual to see you here."

Seven looked around and nodded. "I find the ambiance of this place rather, unsettling. But I must overcome my dislike of crowded spaces if I wish to function on Voyager."

Tom had opened his mouth to reply when the ladies-man hologram he had programmed into the bar swept in between them and began talking to Seven. At first, he didn't listen to what the gigolo was saying, until he heard the man mention the news about Tom and B'Elanna. Tom groaned inwardly, and was about to lay a hand on his shoulder when the lusty bar wench spotted him and he had to vacate before the woman dragged him over the bar.

As he avoided the wench's advance, he caught a look of Seven's face. The expression of rage and the flashing storm-grey eyes that swept over the crowd made him exercise the better part of valor.

* * *

Annika stepped up to the door, slightly apprehensive. She still wasn't sure why the Captain had invited her to dinner, but she was bound to find out. She tapped the chime.

The Captain's voice sang out, lilting as she called, "Come in!"

Annika stepped in, hesitated at the slightly lower lighting, and smiled as she saw the dinner spread out on the table. Janeway had prepared a spread of dishes, evidently from Neelix's kitchen, as the replicator sat half-disassembled in the corner. Annika sat in the chair that Kathryn indicated, smiling as she tasted the first dish.

"Mmmm.... This is good, for Neelix's cooking. Did someone finally tell him that human taste buds were more sensitive to bitter and sour than Talaxians'?"

"Mmhmmmm. I tried to be tactful." Janeway grinned as she took a sip of the wine. Her gaze ran over the short-cropped white hair and slightly-lined face of her dinner companion, the arched swirl of metal around the woman's left eye socket, a similar swirl trailing down her jaw from the hinge to halfway between that and the chin. Annika seemed unaware of the scrutiny, tasting her dish appreciatively before glancing up and giving Kathryn a wide smile. Janeway's heart lurched slightly at that, and she busied herself with her own dish.

Annika took a sip of her wine, appreciating the taste for a moment. "Do you still play Velocity with Seven?" She grinned at Janeway's surprised expression.

Janeway swallowed, took a sip of wine and nodded, "Seven's getting better at it all the time, why do you ask?"

Annika winked. "I was wondering if you could still keep up with me. I'd love to play you sometime."

Her eyes danced as Janeway grinned back, "Is that a challenge?"

Annika grinned back, not deigning to answer as she sampled her dinner. Janeway's eyes narrowed slightly, twinkling faintly in amusement. "You're on. But let's make this a bit more exciting, hmm?"

She took a swallow of wine as Annika grinned back, finishing her main dish and switching to her salad. "What did you have in mind?"

Janeway grinned slightly, "It's the prerogative of the challenger to set the conditions of the wager."

Annika's grin widened, "Alright. If I win, you take me out to that dance Tom is planning for a week from tomorrow."

Janeway almost choked on her wine as she stared at the grinning woman across the table from her. When she had gotten her breath back under control, she asked, "And if I should win?"

"I will prepare dinner next time." Annika's eyes lowered to her food, and the pair ate in silence. Janeway wasn't sure what to make of the challenge, but she shrugged her shoulders. 'If I'm going to do this, I'll do it to the fullest. I wonder how Annika cooks.' She gazed intently back at her dinner companion.

* * *

The match was thrilling. Annika had been using a similar training program in her holodeck on the compound she had been living in for the past thirty years. It wasn't quite the same as Velocity, but the training program's phaser-dodge segment had taught her to keep in motion constantly, presenting as erratic a target as she could. She glanced at Janeway. Her opponent's erratic performance in the past had given her a very tough time trying to figure out how to defeat her. Now, however, Annika wasn't going to play to win, just play to stay untouched.

The first round began and the disc turned red, Janeway's color. Kathryn opened with a straight shot at Annika, but the ex-Borg was no longer there. By the time that round wound to a close, Annika had astounded Janeway with the athletic way she had kept dodging the disc, ducking under it, spinning over it, leaping off a wall at one point to avoid a masterful shot on Janeway's part. A reverse ricochet sent the disc caroming off floor, wall, and wall and right into the small of Janeway's back.

Annika grinned as Kathryn stumbled forward from the contact, the computer announcing first blood to Annika. "Getting slow in your old age, Kathy." Annika winked at the outraged expression on Janeway's face.

* * *

"I'll KILL the son of a bitch!"

Seven sighed inwardly. Telling B'Elanna about Tom's rumor mongering had been a bad idea. "That would be counterproductive, Lt Torres."

B'Elanna glared at the ex-Drone, "How can you be so calm about this? He's trying to smear you too!"

Seven's full lips crooked slightly. Tom had no idea how accurate his rumor might be. "Lt Paris has an overinflated ego. Deflating that ego would be a fitting revenge."

The Half-Klingon blinked in surprise at the tall blond across the mess hall table from her. "What are you suggesting?"

Seven's smile grew wider. "That we prove the rumor correct. Imagine the look on Lt Paris's face if we came into the dance arm in arm."

B'Elanna thought about it. Seven wasn't unattractive, with a few fashion pointers she could be downright devastating. She thought about the idea of being seen in public with the ex-Borg and found surprisingly little opposition to the idea.

'She really is pretty, under that Borg-armored exterior,' B'Elanna mused.

"Alright, but we'll have to dress up for it. Meet me two hours before the party at my quarters. I'll see if we can get you something to wear besides your biosuit."

Seven smiled widely. Things were looking up.

* * *

Tom was jittery. Things seemed to be going alright, the dance was going strong, but that was just the problem. Neither B'Elanna nor Seven had shown up yet. They should be here, to see him dancing with Ensign Jenny Delaney. It had taken him a week to convince Harry to double date the Delaney twins with him. Harry and Megan seemed to be hitting it off over at the bar, so perhaps this night wasn't entirely wasted. The doors opened and Tom turned quickly to see who had come in. He almost tripped over his partner's feet as his jaw dropped.

The short dress the Captain was wearing was a vivid turquoise that set off the blue of her eyes perfectly. Her auburn hair was pulled back with a pair of silver hair clips and she wore a wide smile as her partner followed her in. Annika wore a flowing silver gown, rippling in the light until you almost expected to hear the sound of splashing water. Her short white hair had been combed back behind her ears instead of allowed to fall forward. The conversations died out quietly as the crowd became aware of the pair at the door, and a low murmur of appreciation ran through the crowd. Kathryn's blush set off her dress as Annika murmured to her partner.

Tom was floored. Not only had the Captain deigned to come to his little party, but she brought Annika as her partner? Tom had been sure that Chakotay and she had been an item, but evidently he was wrong. He was so busy staring at the pair he didn't notice when Seven and B'Elanna came in.

* * *

B'Elanna slipped quietly in the door, following Seven in. The Borg paused and Lanna gave her a gentle poke in the back to get her moving again, only to freeze in astonishment when she saw what had made Seven pause. The two women slowly dancing to the soft music had the attention of half the people in the room, and for good reason. "Is that...the Captain?"

Seven nodded slightly. "It appears Captain Janeway has found someone to be with." She felt a mild pang at that admission. For a while, she had felt something toward the Captain, but more the love one feels toward a mentor. Annika seemed almost possessive as she rested a hand lightly on the small of Kathryn's back. It seemed that Annika was leading as the two women danced closely together.

B'Elanna slipped over to the bar with Seven, snagging a drink and downing it quickly. She glanced out at the pair again and back to Seven. "You never told me you can dance."

Seven arched her implant. "It is not a skill I have developed yet. Perhaps you would like to give me my first lesson?"

B'Elanna hesitated, glancing at the drone. She had outdone herself, picking out a black dress that came to just below the Borg's knees, a delicate silver filigree woven through it in an abstract design over the left side of the dress, which was cut daringly up the left side almost to the Borg's waist, silver sandals laced up her shins completing the look. B'Elanna was wearing a slip of deep blood-red, her hair pulled back by a matching hair band, slippers matching her dress and setting off her coppery skin tone.

She smiled slightly and took Seven's hand, gently pulling the taller woman out onto the dance floor. She scanned the crowd for Tom, and spotted him staring with mouth agape as he watched the two women begin to dance. she smiled fiercely at him as she guided the ex-drone's hands to her waist, taking the lead as the music changed.

* * *

Annika and Kathryn sat at a table. It had been a wonderful night for both of them. Kathryn hadn't had this much fun for years, and she intended to enjoy every minute of the experience. She sipped lightly at her wine as Annika smiled at her, making her heart flutter slightly. She blushed and set her wineglass down, about to say something when the klaxon sounded.

"Red Alert, Senior Staff to the Bridge!"

"Dammit, not now!" She sighed and nodded to Annika as the two got up. They were headed to the door when they heard Tom's voice. "I can't believe you had the guts to show up here."

Kathryn frowned. Tom had been somewhat more moody of late, since B'Elanna had broken up with him. She pushed through the jam at the doors, finding Tom holding B'Elanna's shoulder.

"I have as much right to be here as you do, Tom. Let me go."

"How could you come here with her." Tom nodded towards Seven, standing at the door and looking both confused and angry.

Kathryn knew just how much damage the Borg could do when threatened, and Seven was fast approaching her limit. "Tom, let's go, you're holding up the line." Her command mask was in full force as she pushed close.

Tom glanced at her, took in her expression as Annika stepped quietly up behind the compact Captain. "Aye ma'am." He turned and left, giving Seven a scathing look.

* * *

AN: Still here! took a brief hiatus to get some more input on my story from a couple really really good authoresses. I hope to have the next chapter up before Saturday, but don't count on it! As always, Read and Review!


	6. Chapter 6 : Excitation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

PPS: For more information on Direidi, see the Star Trek book "How Much For Just The Planet" by John Ford. It's worth it. ^.~

* * *

"Report." Commander Chakotay glanced up from the display and arched an eyebrow. Kathryn was still in her dress, and looked as out of place on the bridge as a peacock in the tundra.

"We just received a distress call," Chakotay informed her.

"We went to Red Alert for a distress call?" The Captain's eyes narrowed at her first officer. He grinned slightly back.

"No, we went to Red Alert for the three transwarp signatures we read in this system. It's evidently a hotbed of Borg activity, but we can't detect any sign of their presence in the system at the moment. Harry, check to see how old those transwarp traces are."

The Ensign had just stepped onto the bridge, immaculate in his crisp uniform. He took his station and checked. "About three days old, Captain. Whatever made them was huge; the gravimetric disturbances are still rippling through the system."

The Captain nodded slightly. "Stand down Red Alert. Harry, see if you can find the source of that distress call."

"I'm already on it, Captain." The young ensign was busy with his station.

"It's very weak and seems to be coming from a large unmanned station around one of the inner planets. It's hard to get a precise reading, there's a lot of interference in the way. But from what I can tell, it's using a radio frequency to send a primitive distress call."

"Radio? That indicates a pre-warp civilization." The Captain mused. Commander Chakotay glanced at the petite woman beside him, still clad in her party outfit, and murmured softly, "Perhaps the Captain would like to change before initiating first contact?"

She blinked at him quizzically, then glanced down and blushed slightly, nodding. "You have the bridge, Commander. Take us into the system, low impulse. And see if you can find the source of that interference, Harry. I'll be in my ready room." She stepped quickly over into the Captain's refuge, every male on the bridge (save Tuvok) following her with their eyes until the door closed. Harry let out a breath and glanced at Tom, who had taken his position at the Helm. Tom gave him an amused shrug and turned back to his station.

* * *

Annika and Seven were in Astrometrics, scanning the second planet of the system. The two women worked with quiet efficiency, neither speaking more than a few words as they coordinated their efforts. The final analysis had them slightly stunned before Annika tapped her comm badge. "Annika to Captain Janeway and Lt Torres. Please report to Astrometrics."

Seven murmured softly, "It's as if the entire crust of the planet has dilithium ore growing throughout it."

"I've never seen such a concentration before. It must be nearly pure┘and extends to almost a mile beneath the surface." Annika agreed. At that moment the door slid open and the Captain and the chief engineer stepped in. The two women glanced up at the large viewscreen, displaying the radiation signature of the planet.

Lt Torres faltered slightly, her eyes widening. "Is that...?"

Annika nodded. "Dilithium radiation signature. There's very little area of the surface not permeated with the substance." She brought up a schematic of the planet, color coded to indicate the purity of the mineral. With red being poor areas and blue being high-purity, there wasn't very much red and a large quantity of greens and blues.

The Captain, now in her uniform, rested a hand on the rear console, gazing up at the display. "I haven't seen that much dilithium on one planet since reading about the discovery of Direidi." She referred to the planet settled by human colonists in an attempt to break away from the Federation by settling on a planet where the natural radiation would keep them undetected. However, due to substandard sensor equipment, they mistakenly picked a planet with enormous natural deposits of dilithium, and when the Klingon Empire and the Federation discovered the planet, the inhabitants used an unorthodox technique to preserve their autonomy. She had read that the antics the crew of Jim Kirk's Enterprise made were turned into a comedy bestseller about twenty years after his death.

Annika nodded. "An accurate assessment. This planet is not as rich in the mineral as Direidi, but it still has significant quantities of it."

Lt Torres spoke up, "If we could mine out just one of the smallest islands, we'd have enough dilithium to fill all four cargo bays to bursting, and have enough to get home on conventional warp drive!" She beamed at Seven, who blushed and smiled back. Even Kathryn smiled a bit. The tempestuous half-Klingon had become quite close to the ex-Borg over the past few months, starting when Annika, Seven's future self, had come back in time by accident. She glanced at Annika, feeling her heart flutter slightly as she watched the woman working quietly and efficiently.

"Permission to take the Delta Flyer down there and perform some close range scans, Captain." B'Elanna Torres smiled eagerly at the captain.

Kathryn grinned back and nodded. She glanced at Annika, "Take Tom and Annika with you."

B'Elanna made a face. "You are aware that Tom and I..." She didn't have to finish as the Captain nodded.

"I am aware, B'Elanna, but you'll need our best pilot to get through some of those storms. The entire planet seems to be covered in hurricanes right now."

B'Elanna sighed and nodded. Tom was the best pilot on board, but she had broken up with him a few weeks ago, and now he was continuing to try to upset her with insinuations and innuendo about her and Seven. She glanced at the younger ex-Borg, the tall woman's long hair bound up in a tight bun as she worked on her console. Until recently, the two had been almost at each other's throats, until Seven's implants had had to be reformatted by Annika to keep her from dying. After that, the young woman had found that her emotions, previously muted by her Borg implants, were entirely unregulated, and had been unable to keep her temper when B'Elanna flared at her. Now, after getting to know the woman inside that Borg exterior, B'Elanna had found an unexpected friend.

"Alright. I'll start prepping the Flyer." She turned and left.

* * *

Tom sat in the pilot's seat of the Flyer. A year after it was designed and built, the sturdy little ship was the favorite of the entire crew for away missions, partly because it was designed with crew comfort in mind by the people on board Voyager. Tom was feeling a bit better about this mission than he had thought he would have been. He and B'Elanna had broken up a few weeks back, but he was starting to get over that fact. That B'Elanna had apparently already found a replacement for him had hurt, but what hurt more was that it was the beautiful Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01, to give her full title. He manipulated the controls with ease and grace, the little ship diving into the planet's atmosphere like a dart.

Behind him at the Engineering console, B'Elanna was scanning the planet for a high concentration of dilithium ore, while at Science, Annika was performing a weather scan. Below the Flyer a massive storm system enveloped nearly the entire planet. "Adjust heading 5.32 degrees port. There's a clear space forming between three storm systems."

Tom nodded and arrowed his ship downward into the clouds. Thunder and other electrostatic discharges flickered around the little ship, masking it from any privative sensors of the pre-warp civilization on the planet's surface. Lightning licked across the ship's shields, making the little ship quiver slightly as the deflectors absorbed the energy. "Hold on you two, it's going to get bumpy," Tom warned as he dove steeper through the cloud layer.

A warning sounded from Annika's console. "Pull up, there's a massive storm system below this layer, a large amount of ionic disturbance in its upper layers!"

"Too late, brace for impact!" Tom yelled, attempting to pull the little ship out of its steep dive. Lightning flickered around the dart like ship, slamming again and again into the shields, overloading the deflectors and sending ripples of energy through the hull of the ship. Almost instantly, the engines cut out, shutting down to avoid exploding from the overload of energy.

"I've lost impulse! Switching to thrusters!" The little ship jumped and bucked like a green horse with a new rider, the thrusters pulling the ship out of its suicidal dive just as the ship slashed beneath the cloud layer. They saw the base for only a split second as they flashed over it, at the delta of a river. Tom fought to keep the ship level, but the damage was too extensive. He felt a strong hand on the back of his collar as Annika blurred into action behind him, throwing both him and B'Elanna out of the cockpit and into the rear of the ship as the mountainside grew in the view port.

* * *

B'Elanna woke with a splitting headache. For a moment, she longed for the oblivion of unconsciousness, then stirred, looking around. Tom was crouched over her, running a medical tricorder scanner over her prone form. She groaned, "What happened?"

"We crashed." He glanced over his shoulder to the tangled mass of metal and rock that was the nose of the Delta Flyer. The entire view port area had crumpled under the impact, everything from the science station forward was smashed. B'Elanna's breath caught when she saw the mangled body of Annika lying sprawled in a heap near that pile of metal.

She shivered slightly, her headache throbbing. "Is she...?"

Tom shook his head, lips crooking slightly in a wry smile. "She's not dead, but she took quite a beating. Anyone else should be dead with that many broken bones."

B'Elanna's eyes widened. Annika's bones were reinforced with a duratainium weave. The trauma that would break them would have liquefied anyone else. She groaned as she turned over, getting to hands and knees. Just then, a muffled shouting came from outside. She looked up as a clang sounded on the airlock door. She glanced at Tom, who was reaching for the phaser cashed under the engineering console when the door slid open and the stocky native came in. He was holding a sort of projectile weapon and looked trained in its use, his hooded eyes glaring at the two.

He looked reptilian, greenish scales covering him from head to toe, three powerful fingers and a thumb comprising his hand, the short muzzle crammed so full of teeth that they stuck out beyond his lips when he closed his mouth. He hissed when he spoke, his red eyes gleaming as he looked around the cockpit.

"You are under arrest under the authority of the Scylan Confederacy. The charge is trespass on a secret military installation." He seemed unfazed by their strange appearance.

Tom raised his hands slowly. "We mean you no harm. We were just passing through."

"SILENCE!" the native roared. B'Elanna winced at the volume of his voice, making him shift his attention to her. He paused slightly. "Your sentence will be determined by the military tribunal. You and your ship are under our jurisdiction." The smile he gave caused B'Elanna's stomach to roll.

* * *

Seven was frantic. When the Flyer had failed to report in, she had begun intensive scanning to locate the ship. Her heart leapt into her throat when she found the crumpled ship in a military hanger at a base about a mile from the crash site. She tapped her comm badge "Seven of Nine to Bridge."

"Go ahead, Seven." The Captain's calm tone soothed the ex-Borg's battered nerves.

"The Delta Flyer has crashed. It has been moved to a military installation approximately 2.4 kilometers from the crash site. I can not discern any life signs, but the interference from the dilithium deposits makes it extremely unlikely I could at this distance." She could not keep the slight tremor out of her voice.

After a moment's silence, the Captain spoke again, "I'm on my way."

When Kathryn arrived, she found Seven listening to the radio broadcasts. She listened for a while herself, moving to stand beside the ex-Borg as she gazed up at the satellite-view of the military outpost on the Astrometrics viewscreen. She turned to ask Seven what's wrong, but hesitated, eyes widening. Tears streamed uncontrollably down the statuesque woman's face. Seven seemed to notice the scrutiny, speaking in a husky whisper. "They're scheduled to be executed at dawn in ten days..." She gulped. "They say there was another occupant who died on impact."

Kathryn felt the impact like a punch to the gut. She had lost one member of the away team already, and the other two would be dead in ten days if they didn't do something. "Suggestions?"

Seven seemed not to hear for a moment, then turned, tapping a control. The view of the complex shifted to one side, the screen splitting as the schematic for a suit took up the other side. Kathryn blinked slightly. "What's that?"

"It is the design for a suit similar to Annika's. I have found that I cannot use her suit, the controls interface directly through the implants, and I experience sensory aphasia when I attempt to use her suit." The pain in Seven's voice nearly broke the Captain's heart. 'She must have been desperate to risk insanity to rescue the away team,' Kathryn thought.

Some differences showed up in the schematic as the schematics for Annika's suit, codenamed Valkyrie, appeared next to the designs for the new suit. "Why does the new suit not have weapons?"

Seven smiled slightly, rubbing her face to remove the tears. "I improved on the engine design and incorporated the ablative hull armor technology that Annika brought back from the future into the suit. However, doing so took up all the weapons hard points, so I had to remove them."

The Captain nodded slowly, noting how the shields had been augmented. "Why that particular modulation schema, Seven?"

"The shields serve a dual purpose. They not only protect the suit's integrity but also allow it to penetrate the shields of other ships."

Kathryn blinked. "Why penetrate them?"

Seven smiled bleakly. "The top sublight speed of the suit is 0.9c."

The Captain's eyes widened slightly at that figure. At nine tenths the speed of light, the impact of that amount of mass would have the kinetic energy of a photon torpedo at full yield. She nodded slowly. "The other shuttles would be batted down even faster than the Delta Flyer. How soon can you have this┘" she noted the codename at the top of the schematic, "Starwind operational?"

Seven tapped a few keys. "If I can have the entire engineering crew working triple shifts, I can have it done and ready for flight in 9.4 days."

Kathryn exhaled slowly. "Cutting it close, but possible." She nodded. "I dislike having to do this, but we've already made first contact, bungled though it was. All right. You have my authorization to use any resources necessary to make this suit a reality." She nodded to Seven, who smiled back at her. The hope had returned to the young woman's eyes.

* * *

Annika woke, her head pounding, aching all over, panting rapidly. She opened her eyes, but her natural vision revealed nothing about her surroundings. Her Borg vision, however, showed her to be in some sort of close-fitting box, and a cursory tap on the surface nearest her undamaged Borg-enhanced arm confirmed that earth surrounded the box. There was very little oxygen left when she woke, and she quickly set about freeing herself. She noted which direction was up by shifting around, and punched through the upward surface of the box. She tore her way out of the hardwood box, earth cascading down over her as she struggled out of the hole, digging her way upward to daylight. The earth turned to mud a foot or so from the surface, and she emerged looking like a drowned rat from the unmarked grave. It was raining, as was usual for this area of the planet, and she spent a moment to get her breath and examine her surroundings. There was the crash site, but the Delta Flyer had been removed from it, to judge from the wide track marks. It had evidently been lifted clear of the crater and placed on some sort of tracked vehicle.

She spat out a mouthful of muddy water and let the rain cleanse her body as she took inventory. Left leg badly damaged, able to support her weight for only a short time before the pain became unendurable. Right arm still broken at five points. She fashioned a crude splint and sling, setting the bones and finding a crutch. She tapped her apparently-undamaged communicator and got nothing but static. Evidently the radiation prevented comm traffic. She sighed softly and looked around for a place for shelter.

She had a long way to go to get back to her friends. And to judge by where she woke, they must think her dead.

Well, that could work to her favor.

* * *

B'Elanna paced like a caged tiger. She slammed her fist into the wall and winced at the impact. "We can't just let them execute us, Tom."

Tom was sitting on the bunk, head in his hands. He had let them bury Annika, even though he knew she was alive. Her nanoprobes were repairing her bones and the shattered spine rapidly, so she should be awake and functional around now. He just hoped she was functional enough to dig her way clear of the coffin they buried her in. At least one of them was free to act. They had taken every piece of metal they had on them, from tricorders and comm badges down to their pips. He glanced up at the pacing Half-Klingon. "There's nothing we can do. Not even you are strong enough to lift that door out of the way."

The door was a massive slab of stone, fitted into a grove in the floor and lifted out of the way by a motorized pulley system whenever their captors wanted to feed or interrogate them. So far, Tom and B'Elanna had been able to mislead them about the pieces of technology they had appropriated and were examining. This civilization had evidently just made the transition from vacuum tube electronics to solid-state transistors, to judge from the bulky scanning devices they used to scan their captives.

"There has to be something we can do!"

"Those walls are made of native rock, B'Elanna, and you saw what it did to the Flyer. They'll probably take a full-intensity phaser hit and not even heat. You know how durable dilithium is."

B'Elanna threw herself down on the other bunk, snarling in impotent rage at the situation.

* * *

Voyager's shuttle bay was a beehive. Workers entered and emerged at irregular intervals, carrying in supplies and working non-stop on the construction. Seven was driving her crew hard, but working harder than any of them. She hadn't stopped for food or rest for over 4 days now, and Starwind was starting to take shape. The Omega core had been assembled first, but it was set to the side. The core would be inserted and integrated before the Omega molecules were tapped from the storage pods on the forward tips of the nacelles. The wings were mostly assembled, but the rest of the suit was still just the force-feedback equipment. The implant-interface was surprisingly tough to implement, despite replicating the same interface from Annika's suit, Valkyrie, down to the subatomic level. Seven had been testing out variations while the crew worked on finishing the neuro-musculature and force-amplification equipment. One detail worked feverishly from the plans Seven had provided, producing the armor generators for specific points in the suit.

The Captain stood in the doorway, hands on hips. Main Engineering was manned almost entirely by three people. All the rest of the engineers had been appropriated by Seven to complete the suit on time, but normal people couldn't go without sleep or rest for days the way Seven could. Kathryn was about to order the entire crew to take a break when Seven glanced aside. The crew evidently had been waiting for the signal, as about half of them left, the rest continuing as a fresh batch of people came through the door.

Kathryn sighed. Trust the Borg to be efficient.

* * *

Annika slogged through a muddy swamp. Her leg had healed overnight, though she still limped a bit. She held a small hand ax she had fashioned with great effort from a shard of native rock. The ax slashed through the tough undergrowth, sheering through the leathery branch with ease. While not as durable as the hull metals used in the Borg ships, or even Voyager, the native stone was impregnated throughout with veins of dilithium that made it far more resistant than normal stone.

She paused as she came to a knoll from which she could see down through the valley towards the delta and the sprawling complex therein.

She still had a long way to go.

* * *

Tom jerked upright at the sound of fighting. B'Elanna had flattened the first guard to enter with a straight-hand jab to the solar plexus, and the reptilian was gasping for breath on the ground. As Tom watched, it took four other guards to restrain the violently struggling engineer. An important-looking native stepped in, glaring balefully at the Klingon. "Water rations for that one."

Tom looked apprehensive. They had been given nothing but water and a sort of stale flat bread since they had arrived seven local days ago.

"I know you don't come from this world," the important one continued, "but you are unlike the others."

"Others? There have been other visitors from space?" Tom's curiosity got the better of them.

The important one glared at him. "Yes. Machine-men that bore into our mountains and take entire villages. They've been confining their 'attentions' to one continent so far, but I don't trust them to stay there. You will tell us what they want and why they slaughter our people."

B'Elanna growled and snarled at him, "You kidnap us, lock us up, feed us veQ, and now you want us to tell you who your neighbors are? Lots of luck." She glared back at the lizard-like alien.

Tom paled slightly, thinking that he knew only one race that fit the description of machine-men. "B'Elanna, I think these people have been tormented enough. They've got regular Borg raiding parties coming, no need to add insult to their injuries."

"Since when are you the compassionate one, Mr. I-Only-Care-About-Myself Paris?" B'Elanna glared at Tom.

"Since I realized that we just aren't going to get out of this alive."

What shut up the half-Klingon was the dead tone in Tom's voice.

* * *

"I want that recalibration done in fifteen minutes!"

The Commander paused on the threshold of the shuttle bay. The note of panic in Seven's voice didn't bode well. He stepped in to find most of Starwind completed, with only a day to go before the scheduled executions. Part of the left wing had been disassembled, three techs working on it as a dozen examined and replaced parts from the disassembled interior. Seven herself was working feverishly on the chest plate, the soft whine of a replicator coming from her. Curious, Chakotay stepped nearer. His eyes widened as a tool materialized in Seven's left hand, the ex-Borg using it as naturally as she did her fingers before the tool was disassembled and another replaced it. Seven glanced up as his shadow fell across her.

"Commander." She didn't even look up from her work.

"The Captain wants an ETA on Starwind." He smiled slightly.

"In approximately twelve hours, if we keep to the schedule and no other unforeseen developments take place."

Chakotay nodded and watched the Borg work for a while before leaving to report to the Captain.

* * *

Annika crouched in the undergrowth at the perimeter of the base. It had been a long hike to the base through swamp and jungle. Another trio of guards came into view around the corner as the previous trio rounded the next corner. 'Efficient,' she thought, 'they keep each other in sight save when they're in the middle of a side.'

She sighed. It would not be easy, but her arm and leg had healed and she was fully functional now. She had only one shot at this, the next group would raise the alarm when they didn't' spot their comrades at the next corner. She rose up slightly as the guards were left alone. When they reached the point nearest her, she blurred forward.

The fight was quick and brutal. With the advantages of speed, strength and surprise, Annika was able to take them down almost before they were aware of her, her first kick crushing the sternum of the first guard. Spinning and slamming out with an elbow, she snapped the arm of the second, following up with a kick that shattered it's thigh before the third turned and brought up it's weapon. She slid inside the barrel of the gun, wrenching it free and using it to smash the guard against the wall, the projectile weapon held across his throat as she hissed between clenched teeth at him, "Where are the prisoners being held?" She let off a little on the pressure across his throat when he began choking.

"L-left wing, third level, tallest building!" he gasped. She nodded and smashed his temple with a fist, knocking him out. Still holding the rifle, she sped off towards the indicated part of the complex.

She only hoped she had enough time to get to them before they found her.

* * *

B'Elanna was subdued. The half-Klingon hadn't spoken for hours and Tom was starting to worry. This wasn't like her. Normally, she'd pace and thump the walls for hours, swearing in Klingon under her breath as she sought a way out of the cell, but for the past six hours she'd done nothing but stare unseeingly at the wall. Tom hoped it was some sort of meditation to tap her inner reserves of energy for one final effort, but he wasn't optimistic. He knew Annika was still out there, but he had no idea in what condition or even if she had survived being buried.

The door ground upward and he came alert. Five guards came in, four taking up positions around the Klingon as one menaced him with a rifle. "It's time."

He nodded and rose as the other four got B'Elanna on her feet and half-dragged her out of the room.

* * *

Seven felt as if her heart were about to burst out of her chest in her eagerness to be gone, but she restrained her impulse to just take off. She waited as the alcove assembled her suit around her, fitting it to her form and performing final calibrations as the helmet swung over her face. At first total darkness surrounded her, then the interface came online and she could see. Not just see, but computer enhanced overlays outlined everything in her field of vision. A voice sounded somewhere behind her, a tiny image of a woman appearing in her lower left field of view. "Starwind online. Final checks complete. All systems go."

Seven took a shivering breath, trying to control her nerves. "Starwind to Voyager."

The Captain's voice came back, "This is Voyager, go ahead, Seven."

"I'm ready."

"Acknowledged. Prepare for your drop in five seconds."

Seven nodded, stepping out of the alcove and walking towards the opening shuttle bay doors, switching to a jog, then a flat out sprint as the Captain's voice counted down to zero. At that moment, she leapt, her impulse engines flaring from the rear wing edges.

"Starwind away, ETA to surface 7 minutes."

"Good hunting, Starwind. Voyager out."

'Hold on, Bang'wI, I'm coming,' Seven thought as she urged her suit to accelerate harder, the impulse engines singing as she slashed past the moon towards the planet's surface.

* * *

B'Elanna walked listlessly as she followed the guards through the corridors. She had only one regret at this time, that she had never told Seven how she felt towards her. The prospect of immanent death had made her examine her life in a way she never had before. Not death on a battlefield where she had expected to find her end, but executed for a crime she didn't understand. She had had far too much time to think, and the thought of being unable to tell Seven how much she cared for the ex-Borg before she died was appalling to her.

Tom glanced to the side at a faint noise. It sounded like shouting, but muffled by distance and intervening walls. The guards around them got some message over a primitive communicator system and three of the five left, hurrying forward and right down a side passage. Tom fought hard to control his expression. Annika must be coming for them.

* * *

Annika had run out of ammo fast, but her rifle made a good improvised club. She had disabled at least a dozen guards so far, but she was working her way up as fast as she could. She peeked around a corridor and ducked back as a hail of gunfire shredded the edge of the corner. 'Ah, a challenge.' She concentrated on her left hand, a small probe materializing in her left hand from the internal replicator system contained in her left forearm. She touched the probe to the implant on her right chest, manipulating the internal circuitry, there.

A faint golden glow flickered into being around her as she smiled. The Borg shielding she had enjoyed as a drone was much less developed now, but she could still use it as a primitive deflector screen against mass projectiles. Taking up her improvised club, she took a deep breath and rolled around the corner. The gunfire ricocheted off her shielding as she dashed into the teeth of the gun emplacement, taking out a guard stunned by the sight of this woman ignoring the hail of bullets sent her way with a backhand smash of her club and vaulting over the sandbags

She had only one floor left to climb.

* * *

Seven was exhilarated. She never imagined it to be this liberating. Now she understood why Annika occasionally took flights in Valkyrie for no obvious reason. The sensations of speed were thrilling. She orbited high over the planet, finding the beacon from the Delta Flyer.

"Starwind to Voyager, commencing run. ETA to the complex is 6.3 minutes."

With that, she turned over, pulling back and diving down into the atmosphere. As she accelerated downward, nearly at a right angle to the ground, she activated her armor. The plates materialized around her, glowing faintly silver where she moved, the plates continuously readjusting to her changing shape as she slashed through the upper atmosphere. Her armor began glowing a dull red, shading to brighter red and orange as she sped downward, a plasma trail forming behind her as she smashed the very air out of her way, going far above the speed of sound. At this speed, weather didn't matter, she was a meteor, burning her way through the atmosphere as she pushed herself harder and harder through the thickening atmosphere.

As her altimeter reached three miles, she pulled out of the dive. At well over Mach 20, her passage left a shockwave that flattened a wide area around her trajectory, sturdy short trees smashed flat as she blasted past. The plasma trail behind her had burnt out as she decelerated through the atmosphere, reaching the surface over the highest mountain range on the landmass that the Flyer had landed in. She followed the mountain range towards the Flyer's beacon, blowing past mountains and through canyons, finding a river valley and following that towards the base. Her suit slowed as she neared her destination, dropping below the speed of sound as she readied the transporter booster embedded in the chest plate. Her sensors had picked out three non-native life signs, two together and the other rapidly approaching them, one human, one half-Klingon, and one ex-Borg.

"Voyager, prepare to transport on my mark." She was nearly in range.

* * *

B'Elanna snapped out of her lethargy when the guard flew into their corridor down the side passage, slamming into the wall with a sickening crack. She whirled as if at a signal, and smashed her fist full-force into the nearest guard's face, feeling bone crunch under her fist as she yelled, "Tom!"

Tom had his hand's full, grappling with the remaining guard. The reptilian was slowly overpowering the fit human. Then a blur rushed by B'Elanna and smashed a length of pipe into the back of the guard's head, making him slump to the floor. Annika stood panting, splattered by blood and bits of gore, looking like a refugee from one of B'Elanna's workout programs as she nodded to her friends. "Let's get out of here."

At that moment, her comm badge chirped and she blinked, tapping it. "Annika here."

"Starwind to Annika, get clear of the building. I'll initiate transport as soon as you're clear."

B'Elanna blinked in confusion. "Who's Starwind?"

Evidently the voice had heard. "It's me, Seven. I'm here to rescue you."

B'Elanna blushed furiously at the ex-Borg's statement, grabbing Annika's comm badge and murmuring softly into it, "Bang'wI..."

There was a silence from the comm badge for a full second before a low growl sounded, making Tom look surprised and Annika grin. B'Elanna smiled happily as she clutched the comm badge At that moment, the entire building rocked, the comm badge crackling with static. "Get clear! I'm not sure the building can take much more of the punishment I'm dealing it."

B'Elanna nodded and hurried back the way they had come. She had seen a window or something a few turns back.

* * *

Seven had her hands full. At least a platoon was in the courtyard where she had landed, smashing into the rock like a thunderbolt. The massed fire was starting to put a dent in her armor, but it shouldn't be more than she could handle. She flared her wings again, sending another hail of photonic grenades out behind her as she jumped forward, crushing another emplacement and bulling forward into the building proper. She noted that her friends were three floors up and activated her jets, slashing back out the hole she had just made and rising up to the third floor, looking through window after window as she searched. There!

She dived, rolling as she smashed through the transparent substance and knocking over a group of guards like bowling pins, getting to her feet and rushing down the corridor, her suit's heavy footfalls echoing in the bare-walled complex. B'Elanna rounded the corner in front of her and skidded to a stop, stunned with mouth agape. Seven grinned fiercely as she knew what her beloved was seeing.

The silvery figure bearing down on her had golden highlights and glowing-gold eyes with an eerie intensity, silver wings half-folded behind it as it slowed to a stop. A distorted version of Seven's voice sounded, commanding, "Grab a hold. I'll carry you out."

B'Elanna hugged the figure's chest, feeling the gleaming metal arms embrace her gently, Annika and Tom grabbing the arms. With a high-pitched whine, Seven sent the suit back the way she had come, out the hole in the wall and into daylight. She rose into the air.

"Starwind to Voyager, Energize!"

The sparkle of the transporter beams and the joyous look on B'Elanna's face set her heart to racing. A trio of black specks on the horizon, however, caught her attention.

"Voyager to Starwind, get clear. We can't transport you through that interference"

"Affirmative."

She turned and raced off, the trio of fighter jets following closely.

* * *

B'Elanna stumbled as she materialized on the transporter pad. Annika almost collapsed, bleeding from numerous cuts and abrasions. The Doctor rushed forward, easing the woman to the transporter pad as he examined her. Frowning, he said, "Exhaustion, numerous superficial lacerations, and at least three bullet wounds. She'll need immediate treatment."

B'Elanna nodded, too overjoyed to be back on Voyager to quit smiling yet as she and Tom helped the emergency medical hologram carry the heavy ex-Drone to sickbay.

* * *

Whoever was piloting those things was good. Seven had run through a canyon at Mach 2, and they had followed her at every turn. Her lips pulled back in a snarl of challenge. 'Let's see how good you are at getting altitude.' She pulled out of the canyon, flat on her back now as she shot back over the hastily-rising fighters. 'At least I have the edge in maneuverability,' she thought, watching the fighters pull back and around, turning over and rising slowly, angling towards the stars as she increased power to her impulse drive, the glowing-red ports on the trailing wing edges glowing brighter as she increased speed, watching her Mach number climb past 5, the fighters having long since dropped behind. She grinned fiercely, slamming the throttle forward and imagining the faces of her pursuers as she suddenly blasted past Mach 10, shooting towards the sky like a rising meteor, a plasma trail forming behind her as she urged more and more speed from her suit, at last reaching space as the plasma around her burned out. She flew on, speeding back toward Voyager. Her home. And the home of her beloved.

* * *

AN: Whew! That was a rush. I'd been planning that sequence for a few days now, but I cranked it out in under an hour! (plus 6 hours for my beta to get back to me). No idea when I'll get around to writing the next bit, I don't have that planned yet. As always, Read and Review!


	7. Chapter 7 : Anticipation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

* * *

"Delta Flyer to Starwind, you ready, Seven?" B'Elanna Torres, the half-Klingon chief engineer of the Federation starship Voyager, lost in the Delta Quadrant over five years ago, was seated in the cockpit of the Delta Flyer. The sturdy little ship had been designed and built by the people on Voyager, with Tom Paris, B'Elanna's ex, providing the touch of the archaic to the control panel of the sleek ship. Out the right side of the cockpit window, the petite, bronze-skinned woman could see the silver figure of Starwind. The extremely advanced exoskeletal suit combined a warp drive, high-speed impulse drive, and a phenomenal defensive system into a closefitting chrome plated bodysuit.

"Starwind to Flyer, I am ready." The calm tones were laced with anticipation. Seven of Nine, a human woman liberated from the Borg Collective a couple years ago was the suit's occupant and B'Elanna's new love. A few weeks ago when B'Elanna had been about to be executed by a pre-warp military, Seven had frantically assembled the starsuit, modeled after the one Annika, Seven's counterpart from the future, had brought back to the past. Seven had improved slightly on the engines and defenses, at the cost of almost all offensive weaponry.

B'Elanna grinned widely, turning the flyer slightly as she angled into the wide asteroid field, Starwind following close behind. The Flyer might be outclassed in both speed and maneuverability by the integrated suit, but B'Elanna didn't care. She was more interested in spending time with the woman she had grown to love. During her time on death row, the fiery young woman had realized she had grown close to the young ex-Borg, and when Seven came to rescue her in the new suit, B'Elanna had called her Bang'wI, meaning 'beloved' in Klingon.

"On my mark. 3. 2. 1. MARK!" B'Elanna slammed the joysticks forward, sending the little ship arrowing into the asteroids. Starwind took an extra moment to build power in the impulse drive in her large wings, then shot forward after the Flyer. The ship and the smaller suit raced at incredible speed through the field, the Flyer moving just enough to clear the asteroids in its path as Starwind zipped merrily around and about the ship and the asteroids. Ever since she had made the suit, Seven had found the exhilaration of flight to be undeniable. Every so often, she just had to get out and fly. The sensations provoked a profound joy in the ex-Borg, even more when she could spend the time racing with B'Elanna.

After a regrettable incident in Engineering, Seven had slapped the petite engineer and, shocked by her action, had wound up crying in the holodeck where Tuvok had come to arrest her. It was then that she had realized that B'Elanna was more important to her than anyone else on the ship was, more so even than Captain Kathryn Janeway who had liberated her from the Collective.

Seven zipped around the Flyer, tapping on the cockpit window twice, then zooming ahead, exulting in the sensation of unencumbered flight. B'Elanna grinned widely, knowing just how much Seven loved this sort of thing, urging the little ship faster to keep up, dodging around asteroids and pulling up to fly over a large one. Starwind was nearly out of sight again, the suit capable of sustained flight very much higher than the impulse drive on the Flyer.

"Starwind to Flyer, I've found something odd."

B'Elanna blinked, spotting Starwind hovering over a large asteroid a few thousand kilometers ahead and pulling up out of the plane of the asteroids to fly straight over to her. She brought the dart like shuttle to a stop near the floating figure, half-crouched in freefall beside her. Starwind pointed and B'Elanna scanned the asteroid, finding a faint trace of a Borg power signature in the wreckage strewn on and half buried in the surface.

* * *

Captain Kathryn Janeway strode into the cargo bay where the recovered Borg debris had been stored. She spotted Annika inventorying the stuff as it was transported out of the Flyer's cargo hold. The older woman's short white hair fell close about her face, framing her aquiline features and giving her a sort of Norse warrioress look that Kathryn found very attractive. She smiled slightly as she stepped over. "What have we got?"

Annika looked up and smiled at Janeway. She had arrived almost a year ago when attempting to rescue Kathryn from 30 years of torture by the Borg and miscalculating the temporal exit coordinates of the artificial wormhole she had used to travel so far. Now, she had made herself an indispensable part of the crew, as knowledgeable about engineering as B'Elanna, but used to working with highly-experimental prototypes and innovations, not with regular maintenance. "So far, we've found nothing of any real usefulness."

At that moment, the transporter glowed and the next batch of components were transferred onto the cargo transporter pad. Annika knelt and scanned them minutely. She frowned. "One of these cases has an activated stasis field."

Janeway motioned a few guards over, taking a step back as Annika worked deftly. A soft whine and a tool materialized in the woman's left hand. Janeway grinned slightly. The rumors of the internal tool-replicator in the woman's Borg forearm were true then. A few quick touches with the tool and the faint field around the container flickered out. Annika scanned the box again and her eyes widened. "There's a slightly-damaged transwarp coil here!"

Janeway's eyes widened as a smile spread over her lips. "How damaged? Can it be repaired?" A transwarp coil was what let the Borg ships surpass the limitations of standard warp drive, burrowing through subspace at extreme speeds.

"Perhaps. But it should function for a while even with that hairline fracture. It won't be a smooth ride, but it should be doable."

Janeway's grin spread wider. "Get with B'Elanna. I want that coil installed as soon as possible. Anything to get us home a little faster."

Annika grinned back, nodding and tucking the tricorder away. She nodded to the two guards and they helped her lift the large crate as Annika contacted the chief engineer with the good news.

* * *

That evening, Kathryn sat in her quarters, sighing as she pushed back from the table, then grinned across at Annika who sipped at her wine, a look of satisfaction on her angular features. "I take it things went well in Engineering?"

Seven gave a small smile and said, "We should finish adapting the coil to Voyager tomorrow. We won't get more than a few thousand light-years out of it before it degrades too much to be safe, but even so..." The slightly-lined face of her companion grinned widely at the Captain. Kathryn felt her heart flutter gently.

A couple weeks after Annika had arrived, she had given Kathryn a letter declaring her love for the Captain. Ever since, the Captain had been slowly growing closer to the tall, slender woman. Although Seven, Annika's former self, couldn't beat her at Velocity, a game of wits, fast reflexes and spacial awareness, Annika had broken Kathy's undefeated streak in her first game, winning every round by a combination of speed, agility and split-second timing on shots that seemed to ricochet around the entire holodeck before they struck the confused Captain. Ever since, she'd been forced to stretch herself to win any points from the older ex-Borg. But nowadays it was even money who'd win their next match. Janeway was fitter now than she had ever been.

Kathryn stood, gesturing for Annika to join her as she moved from the table to the couch, relaxing on the soft cushions as the other woman sat beside her. Annika was wearing her usual black pants, black short sleeved shirt and black traction slippers. Kathy had on a pair of uniform pants, but had taken off her sweater and command-red shirt, replacing it with a cream blouse. She smiled at Annika, touching her wineglass to the older woman's. "To the future."

Annika smiled wryly. "To our homecoming," she corrected mildly, arching her left eyebrow. A swirl of thin metal strips covered where her eyebrow should have been, curling around the woman's eye socket, a remnant of the implant that the Borg had replaced her left eye with. Janeway smiled and nodded, sipping her wine.

She turned to set her wineglass down, leaning to her right and putting her left hand out to steady herself. She blushed as she felt Annika's thigh beneath her palm, glancing apologetically to her guest. Annika just smiled wider and patted the Captain's hand gently. Kathryn's heart fluttered gently within her breast as she smiled shyly back. Annika slipped her right arm around the captain's shoulders, gently embracing the smaller woman and pressing her against her side. "It's alright, Kathryn. You don't have to keep your command mask in place here."

Kathryn slowly felt herself relaxing in the warm embrace, letting her head sink down to rest on the tall blonde's shoulder as she sighed in contentment. She could sleep like this. Almost automatically, she slipped her left hand around Annika's waist, snuggling closer to the taller woman. She could hear her heart beating loudly, certain Annika with her Borg enhanced hearing could as well, blushing gently at the thought as she closed her eyes, savoring the closeness.

The tender kiss on her forehead made her blink up at the woman close beside her. Annika smiled shyly down at Kathryn, her unenhanced right hand slowly stroking up and down the Captain's side, teasingly close to the swell of the woman's breast, sliding down to her slender waist as she slowly caressed the petite woman's side. Kathryn shivered gently at the touch, letting out a soft moan as Annika's gentle caress soothed her, her eyes slowly closing as she relaxed under the deft touches of her guest. Then a gentle touch of lips against hers brought her out of her reverie. At first her eyes were sharp with accusation, but little by little her resistance broke down. After all, she knew Annika loved her, and she also knew, deep down within her heart, that she loved Annika.

Thank God for the chance to at last let the armor of command fall.

* * *

B'Elanna spun, her bat'leth sweeping through the air, slicing into the gut of one foe as the petite, dynamic woman ducked under a blow from another. Wrenching the weapon free in a welter of blood, she wove the bat'leth back and forth, laughing in delight at the violence as she taunted the remaining Cardassian. With a yell, he charged, and she caught his down flashing arm on the bladed weapon, spinning inside his guard and slamming her elbow into his gut, knocking the wind out of him and sending him reeling back. She whipped the gleaming crescent around and beheaded him brutally, panting with her exertions as she watched the headless body fall.

A soft but persistent chime sounded through the caverns, the signal that her time on the holodeck was almost over. She heard the door open and someone walk in. "I'll shut down the program in a second," she panted.

"That is not necessary." It was Seven's voice and B'Elanna looked up with a smile. She was always glad to see the ex-Borg nowadays. Seven was clad in black shorts and a snug grey shirt instead of her usual form-fitting biosuit that left little to the imagination.

"Seven! Why are you here? I thought your time on the holodeck was in three hours?"

"I decided I wished to join you. I've arraigned the next two hours to be deducted from my allotment." Seven glanced around, apparently a bit shy. "Do you mind if we continue the simulation?"

B'Elanna blinked. This was new. Seven hadn't wanted to train with her before, usually preferring to spend what time she spent on similar pursuits with the Captain playing Velocity. 'Lanna had heard the rumors that the Captain's undefeated streak had been broken in her first game with Annika, but she withheld judgment until she found the courage to ask the Captain directly. "You sure you want to, Seven? I usually turn off the holodeck safeties."

Seven nodded, her long blond hair bound back in a French twist bun at the back of her head, aquiline features accented rather than marred by the angular design of metal around her left eye socket, a similar angular design along her right jaw. "That is acceptable."

'Lanna didn't need a second longer to decide. "Sure. How about you pick the enemies this time."

Seven nodded. "Computer, set foes to Kazon warriors, armed with melee weapons. Three waves, fifteen opponents per wave." B'Elanna's eyes widened. Seven wasn't fooling around. The tall slender woman continued. "Weapon, Bat'leth. Tip to tip one hundred and sixteen centimeters, weight five-point-three kilos with exterior handgripping diameter of five centimeters. Blades of fused ferulite compound 13-beta."

B'Elanna's eyebrows rose as Seven named the dimensions for a warrior's bat'leth. She blinked as Seven named an unfamiliar material. "What's that?"

Seven smiled slightly at her. "A compound similar to the Baakonite used in Klingon bat'leths discovered by species 157. It has higher wear resistance and keeps a sharper edge."

B'Elanna smirked slightly. "Remind me to have one made of that sometime."

Seven nodded as she grasped the weapon that had appeared in mid-air. The usual swept curve of the bat'leth had the typical dual-tipped ends, but was composed of a dark material with faint marbling of venomous green. At once, three Kazon stepped out of the shadows and Seven raised the weapon in the ready position. B'Elanna whirled at a sound, back to back with the tall Borg now as another three Kazon stepped out of the shadows before her.

She grinned in anticipation, snarling as she threw herself into the fight.

* * *

B'Elanna rested on her bat'leth, panting from her exertions. The blasted Borg didn't even seem winded as she leaned against a cave wall, smiling back at the half-Klingon's wide grin. "That was fun!"

"I too found enjoyment in the activity." Seven's smile widened a little, making B'Elanna's heart race. At this point, just after a good fight, the half-Klingon's blood was singing in her veins. She found herself growling softly as she gazed at the tall blond, stifling the sound as she glanced aside, and flushing a little.

"B'Elanna. Perhaps we should discuss our relationship."

The fiery engineer blinked back at the statuesque ex-Borg, cocking her head to the side slightly. "What about it?"

"I have been analyzing my reactions when I am in your presence, and I have found that you provoke reactions in me that no one else on board has. You.... I feel...complete when you are near."

B'Elanna's eyes widened slightly as she gazed back at the Borg. She knew how she felt herself, just looking at that tall graceful figure enflamed her blood, making her want to tackle the blond beauty. She flushed slightly, realizing that Seven must feel something similar. "I...see. Well, I don't mind you knowing, Seven, but I really like spending time with you too." She said that in a flippant off-hand attitude, but Seven gathered that the half-Klingon was attracted to her as well. She favored the petite woman with a brilliant smile. B'Elanna's heart lurched at that smile. Dammit, why did the Borg have to have such total control over her heart? Her knees felt watery as she blushed, smiling back.

"Perhaps we could have lunch together more often, then?" Seven's tone was shy as she glanced aside and...was that a blush? B'Elanna blinked and looked closer. Yes, Seven was blushing. 'Wow. She must really be desperate to be with me.'

B'Elanna felt instantly warmed by the realization, smiling back. "Of course, Seven. Feel free to drop by my place for dinner, too." She smiled at the shy Borg.

"Wouldn't it cause comment if I were seen going to your quarters, B'Elanna?" That brought her up short and she thought hard about it. After a moment or so, she concluded, much to her surprise, that she didn't care what people thought about her being seen in public with the tall blond beauty. 'She's got that sort of innocent grace that makes her so charming, yet I know first hand that she can be a holy terror when she's angry.' She had seen Seven rip through three Kazon who had teamed up to overpower B'Elanna, slicing through them with effortless ease. The look on her face sent chills through B'Elanna and made her legs tremble. It had been one of savage anger, similar to the look she had seen once on a wild targ when she slew its mate.

"I think I can honestly say I don't give a damn what people say about us, Seven." She smiled at the blond woman, who returned another of those brilliant smiles of hers. Just seeing her light up like that made her knees watery.

She wondered how fast the scuttlebutt would circulate.

* * *

Engineering was in a state of controlled chaos as the final checks were busily being made on the transwarp coil assembly. With the number of transwarp coils Voyager had run across in the past, a new addition to the warp core had been designed, allowing it to quickly and easily switch power between the normal warp drive and any transwarp coils Voyager happened to run across or acquire in its journey. The Borg-designed coils were able to span thousands of light-years in seconds, allowing the ship trapped far from home to reach that home far faster than the twenty-odd years it would take with conventional warp drive, even a warp drive enhanced by the addition of a few hundred thousand Omega particles the ship had acquired and stabilized from a pre-warp civilization.

Ensign Vorik, a Vulcan engineer, was performing the last checks on the plasma conduit that ran from the warp core to the transwarp assembly when his superior, B'Elanna Torres, came out of her office. He noted absently that her cheeks seemed more suffused today than previously, but the condition passed as she threw herself into fitting the final parts together and locking everything down. The last few tests running, she contacted the Bridge.

"Go ahead, Lt Torres."

"Captain, we should have transwarp capability up and running in the next hour. The last tests are proceeding on schedule."

"Excellent! Let me know when we've got the transwarp drive online, then dismiss your crew for the rest of the day. There's going to be a small celebration in the mess hall."

B'Elanna grinned widely, her eyes sparkling with pleasure. "Will do Captain."

Vorik raised an eyebrow. B'Elanna Torres was acting slightly different from her usual erratic self. Just then, the main doors to Engineering opened and Seven of Nine stepped in. Vorik stepped slightly to the side to have a convenient console to duck behind. The past few times Seven and B'Elanna had interacted in engineering gave a high probability of confrontation, and coupled with the accumulated data on Seven's more emotional behavior of late, it was well to have something to hide behind if things started flying around.

To his amazement, not that he showed it, B'Elanna smiled widely at the ex-Borg, provoking a similar brilliant smile from the tall blond. The pair exchanged greetings and stepped into the chief engineer's office. The soft hiss and slight clack of the locking mechanism made his eyebrows raise. Not only are B'Elanna and Seven happy to see each other, but they go into a room and lock the door? This was entirely outside the range of his experiences with the pair, and warranted his curiosity if not alarm.

* * *

Neelix was so busy he had conscripted two deft-handed engineers to assist in the galley, something he only did when cooking for the entire crew at once. The captain's announcement that the transwarp drive had been brought online and that there would be a day of rest before they engaged the drive to bring them back to the alpha quadrant.

There was a steady stream of people arriving, picking up a plate of his now-delicious leola root stew and heading into the mess hall at large to find someone to sit and talk with. Ever since the Captain had mentioned to him that human tolerance for bitter tastes was much lower than Talaxian, he'd been improving greatly with his cooking, the rising incidence of compliments spurring him on to greater heights until it was a rare meal that didn't get at least one heartfelt expression of gratitude.

The door whooshed open again and Neelix glanced out to see who it was. He wasn't surprised, but pleased, to see Seven and B'Elanna stepping into the mess hall together. What did surprise him was the fact that the pair of them were holding hands as they entered, B'Elanna's left fingers entwined with Seven's right. The ex-Borg smiled at him as she picked up a plate of the stew, B'Elanna snagging another and taking an appreciative sniff. "Mmmmmmmm..... Smells delicious, Neelix." She shot him an appreciative smile as the pair moved over to their usual table.

Neelix almost didn't notice the next crewman who stopped by for a refill, lost in thought. 'Seven and B'Elanna? Well, who'd've thought it. They seem well-suited to each other.' He glanced over at the pair, seated side by side and discussing something on a padd as they ate.

He smiled. Evidently his burden as morale officer was lightened by just a little bit, since those two had found some comfort with each other.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the short chapter this time, gearing up for the end of the fic soonish! ^.^ Unsure when I'll get the next bit up, I'm planning to write all of the rest and upload the chapters one per day until it's done.


	8. Chapter 8 : Conversation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

PPS: Yes, this does end on a cliffhanger, and no I'm not giving up on this fic. I may not be able to get back to it for a while, what with being assigned fulltime work until next semester, but I SHALL RETURN! ^^;

* * *

Three weeks later, the ship had halved its remaining journey. The transwarp coil had given out, but they were confident of finding a new one soon. The area they were entering was very close to the galactic core, old stars densely packed and prone to sudden violent eruptions. The number of transwarp signatures in the area were making it hard to distinguish between old corridors and new ones. Annika was out of her reckoning here, meaning she and Seven spent a lot of time in Astrometrics, cataloging the wealth of sensor data and routing it to the various departments for analysis. Stellar Cartography and Astrophysics were having a field day, discovering things about star lifespans that had only been theorized before.

Annika had been smiling for the past few weeks, giving people a shock when the here-to-fore formidably impassive woman broke into a wide grin. Many theories had been forwarded, but no one had any firm knowledge of why she seemed to have finally thawed. On the other hand, everyone knew why Engineering was operating far more efficiently lately. Seven of Nine's influence on her betrothed, B'Elanna Torres, was having unforeseen consequences all over the ship. For one thing, Tom and Jennifer Paris had been married a scant week back, to appropriate fanfare and with B'Elanna's blessing. Although Harry was still trying to keep it a secret, the fact that he and Megan Delany were often seen entering or exiting each other's quarters had spread all over the ship. No one had any clue about Annika's nighttime visits to the Captain's quarters yet, mainly due to the masterful way the ex-Borg used site-to-site transport to avoid attracting attention.

Speaking of that method of travel, Annika and the doctor had managed to pull off a spectacular practical joke on Kathryn, which she still hadn't figured out entirely. A full two weeks after the event, tales were still floating around on the lower decks after many of the crew had witnessed the befuddled look on the Captain's face.

* * *

Annika smiled as she stepped past a crewman and through the door to her and Seven's quarters. She spotted her younger self diligently going over padds on the couch. "Working late again? You know what that does to you."

Seven nodded absently, absorbed in what she was reading. Annika chuckled and retrieved a nutritional supplement from the replicator, seating herself at the table as she ate. Seven at last finished the padd and set it and the others in a neat stack on the shelf, next to eight other neat stacks before heading into the bedroom. It was Seven's night to regenerate, and she wanted to get it out of the way before returning to B'Elanna's quarters.

Annika frowned, struck by something. "Seven?"

The younger blonde glanced out of the door. "Yes?"

"Why don't you just have B'Elanna install one of the alcoves in her quarters? Then you don't have to come back here every week."

The younger Borg blinked at her, then smiled ruefully, "I didn't consider the possibility."

"Much as you didn't consider the possibility of moving out of the cargo bay?" Annika asked pointedly. When she had returned to Voyager, traveling back some thirty years into the past in an accidental displacement, she had found her younger self still living out of the cargo bay, and subtly reinforcing the general impression of her as a piece of equipment, not a person.

Seven nodded slightly. "I will discuss it with her." With that, she stepped out of sight and after a moment came the familiar clack and whine of the alcove as Seven stepped in and the alcove's power conduits connected to her dorsal implant, transferring the precisely modulated energy from the ship's power systems to Seven's still-technological systems, a physical reminder of the woman's time in the Collective.

* * *

B'Elanna woke to the chime of the chronometer and groaned. She had had a busy day yesterday in Engineering, cleaning up the mess when the transwarp coil fractured, sending a power surge through the coolant systems. No casualties, thank Kahless, but it had been a nasty mess to clean up, as they had to wear bio-containment suits to evacuate the spilled coolant. They'd just managed to clean it up by the end of beta shift, but B'Elanna had had to stay an extra couple hours after that to fill out all the paperwork associated with loosing so much coolant.

And when she had gotten home, she had found Seven in her quarters, dressed in a frilly little something and that brilliant smile.

B'Elanna grinned at that memory. Some things in life were worth waiting for, and last night had been one of them. She sighed and got out of bed, skinning out of her nightie and stepping into the ensuite, setting the sonic shower and slipping in.

By the time she had emerged, the replicator had recycled yesterday's uniform and replaced it with a new one. Slipping into that as she worked her way around the somewhat extensive mess in her quarters, she almost smacked into Seven as she stepped through the door. The ex-Borg was in her usual biosuit, the formfitting garments leaving no curve obscured. B'Elanna mumbled an apology, stifling a yawn.

"Lt. Torres, it is time for our usual morning meal." Seven's tone was as precise as ever, but there was a trace of the brilliant smile from last night on her lips as the gazed down at the petite engineer.

B'Elanna smiled back. "That it is, Seven of Nine. Shall we go?" She lead the way to the mess hall, where Neelix's cooking had vastly improved of late. The pair entered, retrieved a plate of what looked like slightly off-color scrambled eggs, and sat in their customary corner to eat. B'Elanna couldn't stop staring at Seven, the beautiful blonde's aquiline features including ice-blue eyes, high wide cheekbones, and a wide and full-lipped mouth.

Seven arched the gleaming, angular design of metal covering where her left eyebrow would have been. A month or so ago, her body had suddenly rejected all of her remaining Borg implants, and Annika had been forced to 'assimilate' the younger ex-drone to save her life. Part of the process had reconfigured Seven's external implants into skin-hugging designs that looked at first glance like tattoos, save that parts of the skin had actually been replaced with metal strips. B'Elanna flushed slightly, remembering last night and how she had gotten a good look at Seven's new implants.

"Is something wrong, Bang'wI? Your heart rate and respiration have increased." Seven's tone was low, but concerned, but her use of the Klingon word for beloved had B'Elanna's heart racing faster.

B'Elanna flushed harder. She had forgotten how acute Seven's senses were. "No, I'm fine, Seven. Just admiring you." She gave the ex-Borg a small smile and turned back to her food. Seven gave her a small version of the brilliant smile she had greeted B'Elanna with last night, turning to her own food.

By the time they had finished, they had worked out a schedule for charting the area where they had wound up, and giving the Astrophysics department something to chew on. One of the side effects of transwarp was that long-range and astrometrics sensors were rendered useless by the corridor wall, making it impossible to gather scans as they flew. The method of travel had its advantages, able to span huge distances in mere minutes, but it left the astrophysics department twiddling its thumbs with nothing to do.

The week in transwarp had shaved a full ten years off their journey home, but the scientists were ready to defect to other departments for want of something useful to do. Now that the transwarp coil had given out, the Captain had ordered a halt for a week to update star charts and plot a conventional course home. The fact that they were now closer than any Federation ship had ever come to the galactic core had Astrophysics hopping up and down in glee as the ship ran continuous sensor scans.

Seven paused as she and B'Elanna exited the mess hall, hesitating a moment before asking, "Bang'wI, would you consider the possibility of moving my alcove into your quarters?"

B'Elanna was floored. "Are you asking if you can move in with me?" Her heart leapt within her. The idea of watching the ex-Borg regenerate, of waking up with that wonderful body pressed close against her was intoxicating.

"Yes." Seven's flat declaration brought B'Elanna back to her senses.

"Of course you may." B'Elanna smiled widely at her love, taking Seven's hand in hers and kissing the palm. "I wish you had asked sooner."

Seven did something very cute then; she blushed. B'Elanna laughed softly at her mate, winking. "I'll see about having it moved after my shift today. Tonight, you sleep in my quarters."

Seven smiled shyly at her beloved. Not caring who saw, not caring who knew, she drew B'Elanna into a hug, planting a kiss on the forehead ridges that she found so attractive. "Bang'wI," she whispered, then released the half-Klingon and headed to Astrometrics to begin her day's work.

B'Elanna stood motionless for a while, then slowly walked off to Engineering, feeling as if the gravity plating had been reduced to one tenth G.

* * *

Annika entered the captain's ready room, the customary padd in her hand. Janeway looked up and smiled her greeting, "Just a moment." Annika nodded and waited patiently for the Captain to finish her current task.

"So, what brings you here, Annika?" Kathryn smiled up at the woman she found herself spending almost all her free time with. Tall, statuesque curves and a regal bearing, Annika's ice-blue eyes and crop of short, white hair that framed her high cheeks gave her the look of some sort of Norse warrioress.

"I have the preliminary reports on our current position and a projected course." She handed over the padd, smiling faintly as she always did in the presence of the Captain. The reports stated unequivalently that they were closer to the galactic core than any ship they had ever heard of. In this region, stars were so tightly packed that it was never night on any planet unfortunate enough to have formed in this region of constant light. Some of the larger stars actually impinged on each other's heliopauses, and if one of them went supernova, the shockwave would probably set off the rest of them as well.

"Very well, that should give the astrophysicists something to chew on." Janeway grinned, then handed back the padd. "Anything of note among the crew?"

"As you say, the astrophysics department has been idle of late, they need something to do. I have helped plot a course I hope will give them all the data they require." She hesitates, pensive.

Janeway raised an eyebrow. "What is it? It isn't like you to withhold something from me." She got up and passed around the ready room desk, leaning against it and sipping from her ubiquitous cup of coffee.

Annika took a breath, as if to brace herself. "I am given to understand that Seven has moved in with B'Elanna."

The Captain nodded. She remembered the request for the transfer of quarters, and the request a couple hours later for a couple crewmen to assist in moving Seven's alcove into the half-Klingon's quarters. That had happened a couple days ago, and the crew was still reverberating with the gossip about the fiery engineer and the 'Borg Ice-Queen'. "I remember that. Is there something new to add?"

Annika nodded. "Seven expressed a desire to formalize her arrangement with B'Elanna. She came to me to ask how my relationship with Chakotay..." She broke off, then resumed as Janeway cleared her throat. "She asked me about possible ceremonies. I referred her to B'Elanna for her preference, but┘" The ex-drone trailed off, a faint tinge of pink on her cheeks.

Janeway was highly pleased. Ever since that fiasco with the Delta Flyer crash-landing on a world rich in dilithium and B'Elanna's subsequent capture by the pre-warp civilization on the planet, Seven had been increasingly devoted to the engineer. When they learned B'Elanna and Tom were to be executed, Seven had dropped everything, commandeered the engineering crew, with the Captain's permission, and built in nine days a suit similar to the one that Annika had arrived in from the future, which she used in a spectacular display to rescue her beloved and the top pilot on Voyager.

"That's wonderful news! I hope B'Elanna and Seven find a ceremony that they both can be happy with." She grinned widely, then frowned slightly as Annika hesitated again. "What is it, Annika?" She laid a hand on the tall woman's arm. "You know you can ask me anything."

Annika nodded, glancing aside. At that moment, Janeway realized what Annika wanted to ask. She flushed slightly, remembering how she had felt around Justin all those years ago. Heady from his presence and unable to think clearly, but not wanting to draw away either. She suddenly realized that she had been feeling those same sorts of sensations again. Not since Justin had they been that strong. Mark hadn't inspired the same sort of desire in her, even though she had known him for years. "Annika?"

The taller woman looked back, those cool-ice eyes warming as she gazed at the Captain. "Yes?"

Now it was Janeway's turn to hesitate. She knew what it was Annika wanted. The woman was as easy to read as a photon torpedo. Annika wanted her, wanted her so badly she wasn't sure what to do. Annika knew how to deal with scientific matters, and how to handle herself in a physical fight, but in the battle for her heart's desire, she had no more knowledge of what to do than Janeway did all those years ago with Justin. She took a steadying breath. "Annika, I want you to know. I've fallen in love with you."

The statement made Annika's eyes widen in shock. Then, slowly, that brilliant smile lit up her face and she stepped forward to embrace the Captain. 'Protocol be dammned,' Janeway thought, and hugged her back tightly. She felt the taller woman melt against her, murmuring soft thankful words as she clutched the diminutive Janeway to her. After a few minutes, they both got a hold of themselves and the embrace ended.

"Thank you, Kathryn. That means much to me." And there were tears in the woman's eyes, Janeway noted.

She smiled reassuringly, "Annika, you know how much you mean to me. And..." She hesitated only a second, "I think I would like it if we also considered a more formal union."

The sight of the normally imperturbable Captain Kathryn Janeway blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush almost broke Annika's heart. She once more enfolded the Captain in a tight hug, kissing her forehead and whispering, "Of course, Kathryn. Whatever you desire."

The love in that tone filled Kathryn's heart to bursting. And, of course, Fate chose that moment for a Red Alert. "Captain to the Bridge!" Chakotay's voice was tinged with worry.

* * *

"Captain! We're getting a distress call." Ensign Harry Kim called out as the Captain and Annika stepped out of the ready room. Seven of Nine was already at her customary position behind the command chairs.

"That doesn't warrant a Red Alert, Harry."

"It's Borg."

Seven glanced at the young ensign, her brows furrowing in perplexity, "The Borg do not send distress calls."

"This one did. It's got a Borg signature, but it's being broadcast across the entire subspace band."

"Let's hear it, Ensign."

At first, a burst of static obscured the first part of the signal, which cleared, "-peat, this is the Borg Republic Probe Liberty to any ship in range, if you value your lives and your freedom, please assist us!"

"Borg...Republic?" First Officer Chakotay blinked.

"We are under attack by a Collective Sphere. Our shields are failing, weapons are destroyed, engines down and life support going. Please, we offer any Borg technology you want in exchange for your immediate assistance!"

Seven's eyebrows rose, the angular metal design over her left glittering in the light. Kathryn Janeway rose to her feet. "This is a trick of some kind but I can't figure out-"

"I repeat, this is Erin Hansen of the Borg Republic Probe Liberty, please assist us!"

* * *

AN: *evil cackle* yes! a true cliffhanger! ^^; I hope people reply to this, the amount of replies determine how fast I update, so send them in! Feed the author! ^.^


	9. Chapter 9 : Explanation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and storylines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

PPS: I'm not done with this fic yet! ^^; I intend to do a few more things before ending the fic, but I am entertaining ideas for a sequel. PM me if you want to suggest something!

PPPS: I've done a little audio mixing and come up with what I think Valkyrie might sound if she went by subsonic in an earthlike atmosphere. Heres' the URL:

http://www (dot) mediafire (dot) com/download (dot) php?wngwdndem3j

I appologize for the (dots), the site won't let me put in a URL otherwise.

* * *

A look of shock rebounded around the bridge for a moment before Janeway catapulted herself out of her chair. "Set a course, Tom, maximum warp. Raise shields, and arm weapons. Open a channel, Harry." When the audio tone had sounded, she spoke again, "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager, we're on our way."

"Federation? What's a Federation ship doing in the Delta Quadrant?"

"Long story. We'll be with you in a few minutes. Hold on." She broke off as Annika's hand touched her shoulder, causing Janeway to glance back at the woman, then up past her to where Seven was standing rigid in shock at the auxiliary tactical station.

Seven seemed to notice the gaze and shook herself free of the paralysis just as the starscape firmed as the ship dropped out of warp. The bright flare of a photon torpedo detonation against green-glowing shields caught everyone's breath. The Borg Sphere was pursuing a badly damaged smaller Borg vessel, leaking drive plasma and apparently with no way to fire back.

"Attack pattern Omega, Tom. Seven, Annika, suit up."

The two ex-drones nodded and headed to the turbolift, and from there to the Probe bay.

Janeway watched as brilliant ruby lines slammed into the iridescent emerald of the Borg sphere's shields. Then a green-spectrum phaser slammed hard into the little ship's shields and the ship rocked violently as Tom Paris threw Voyager into a series of evasive maneuvers.

"Starwind and Valkyrie have launched, Captain." The voice was calm but betrayed an underlying excitement as the crewman in the shuttle bay reported the launch of Seven's and Annika's suits, the powerful weapons that Annika had designed to fight the Borg single-handed being the strongest weapons in Voyager's arsenal.

Twin blurred shapes appeared from the bottom of the viewscreen, one black with green running lights, the other silver and gold, glowing brilliantly in the light of the much-enhanced impulse engines on Starwind's wing-mounts.

"Valkyrie to Starwind. Scissor right on my mark. MARK!"

The silver shape of Seven's suit suddenly cut right, streaking across the Borg Sphere's bow and distracting it's attention as Valkyrie accelerated in behind the sphere. Emerald spears impacted the aft shields of the sphere as Starwind spread her wings, letting fly dozens of photonic charges that buffeted the forward shields with miniature versions of a photon torpedo blast. Then both suits were gone, reappearing again high above and below the sphere, having jumped to warp for a microsecond to throw off their target's ability to adapt.

Starwind arched in a swan dive, accelerating down to impact violently against the shields, rebounding off at an angle as the Voyager swept majestically past, three torpedoes slamming into the shields with brilliant flares of light as Starwind fled to the side, arcing around the Borg Probe as the Intrepid-class ship pulled between Sphere and Probe. Valkyrie pulled back, then darted forward once more as Starwind slashed past the Sphere, evading the tractor beam that attempted to catch her. With the Probe drifting away and Voyager presenting a much more formidable threat, the Sphere was concentrating on the starship.

Photon torpedoes washed over the ship's hastily deployed hull armor, turning the ship into an impenetrable fortress, but one that could not strike back. That's why the suits were deployed first.

"Valkyrie to Voyager. I'm going to attempt to slice through the shield. I'll need you to coordinate with Starwind to distract them while I do it."

"Understood, Annika." Janeway nodded to Tuvok, "Let's give them a target."

The Vulcan nodded, allowing the armor to drop as Tom sent the ship rolling as if that last torpedo had damaged their inertial dampers, the fields that held the ship steady in space. The bridge lurched as the ship spun on its axis then drifted sideways, narrowly avoiding a torpedo. Janeway watched as the silver streak that was Starwind shot forward, spun into the sphere's path, and dropped at least half a hundred photonic grenades directly in it's path. Blasting out of range as the Sphere's tractor beam attempted to snag her, Valkyrie quietly slipped close behind it.

The Sphere concentrated on Voyager, sending spear after spear of green energy into the ship's shields, rocking the bridge and making Tom skid the ship sideways to avoid too much fire. For an instant the silver-and-gold form of Starwind stood in the center of the ship's viewscreen, like an angel standing between the Devil and his prey. Then she was gone, diving down and to the side, a gold lance that slammed into the sphere's shields.

With a crackle of displaced energy, the sphere's shields came down. The little ship tried to run, but a sudden brilliant flash from the point where Valkyrie had been working and the glowing green lights of the ship flickered and died.

Twin streaks of blue light blasted over to the Borg Probe, as Voyager came in closer.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager to the Borg Probe Liberty. Do you need assistance." Kathryn restrained a grimace. This felt so wrong, offering assistance to the Borg.

The viewscreen changed, showing the image of a Borg drone. Implants disfigured her hairless head, but she was recognizably human. She smiled brilliantly, making Kathryn's heart lurch. She'd seen Annika give a version of that smile after the pair had climaxed together.

"This is Erin Hansen of the Borg Probe Liberty, our greatest thanks for coming in our hour of need."

* * *

Three hours later, Annika, Seven, Janeway, B'Elanna, and the rest of the bridge crew stood in the cargo bay, a small contingent of the Borg from the probe standing near the door. A slightly built female drone stepped forward. Her head was disfigured, her body covered with Borg implants reminiscent of the Borg Queen, but the wide smile was unmistakable.

Annika shivered slightly. She had never thought about her mother in all her time since Voyager had returned home. Her entire life from the point where Chakotay had died had been one long attempt to retrieve her beloved Kathryn from the clutches of the Borg Queen, and she hadn't given thought to anything else. She glanced over at Seven as the younger ex-drone stepped forward. Seven's eyes were hard, her movements abrupt, as if she were having difficulty restraining herself.

The Borg stopped, staring at the woman who stepped forward. For a long moment, no one spoke. Then Seven stepped forward and embraced the slightly smaller drone, murmuring softly, but loud enough for everyone in the cargo bay to hear. "Mother."

The Borg blinked as she was hugged, then froze in shock as Seven spoke. "A-Annika?" The disbelief in her voice was clearly audible as she pulled back to stare into the widely smiling face of her daughter. Tears streamed down Seven's face, tears of joy. "Annika, is that you?"

Seven sniffled and shook her head. "I go by Seven of Nine." She glanced over at Annika, standing at ridged attention. "That is Annika."

The Borg looked over at Annika, clearly startled. Kathryn rubbed a temple. Temporal mechanics always gave her a headache. "It's a long story. Suffice it to say, your daughter came home, Erin Hansen. Now, what can we do to help you repair?"

Erin seemed grateful for the shift in topic as Seven disengaged. "Our crew is repairing what we can of the ship, and no offense, Captain, but we are much more knowledgeable about our ship than you are. We'll adapt." She grinned sardonically. "However, our impulse reactors are melted piles of slag and our warp nacelles have been shredded. We won't be able to use either drive for quite a few months. Could we prevail on you to tow us to a place of safety?"

"Of course, Erin. Um, if you don't mind my asking, how did you...?" She trailed off.

"Get free of the Collective?" Erin smiled. "Well, it's somewhat hard to explain. Recently, the Borg Queen was killed-"

Annika interjected, "My work."

Erin blinked at her in surprise, then nodded slowly, "I see. Well, she was destroyed. In the event of a Queen's death, there's an independent subsystem that selects a drone from a small pool of them, specially prepared for the rigors of controlling the Collective. These Queen-candidates are scattered throughout the Collective, to prevent all of them from being destroyed at once."

Seven and Annika nodded. Seven had been one of the Queen-designates. That was why the Collective had spent so much time and effort attempting to retrieve her.

"Well, when the queen was terminated, the program began selecting the replacement. However, it had gotten no farther than choosing me when the ship detonated and the program was scrambled. When a new queen is selected, her personality is overwritten with a copy of the last queen's memories and persona. Then she is given special implants designed to maximize her efficiency in controlling the Collective. I was given root-level access to the Collective, but the program never installed the Queen-persona. I woke up to find myself in the Borg cube, hearing all their voices, and realizing that not only was I free, but I could control the ship I was on."

Annika's lips parted in surprise. She knew Omega would destroy subspace, so that was why she used it in the bomb that destroyed the queen's ship. She had thought it would prevent a new queen from being activated, but evidently, there had been enough time to initialize the queen-program. "So, what did the Collective do when it realized its queen was rogue?"

Erin sighed. "It first attempted to lock me out, but I had been rummaging around in the under levels of the command structure by that point, and had set up a special back-door into the Collective's under levels. They couldn't keep me locked out. So, they re-initialized the Queen program, in effect, setting up another queen. With a queen like the Collective remembered, they began to hunt for my ship. I headed for deep space and got lost in a series of nebulae in the fringes of the galaxy. Over time I found ways of freeing other ships, and began massing an army from the ships the Collective sent to find me." She paused, head cocked slightly to the side. "I currently have approximately fifty percent of the outlying Borg ships liberated. The Unicomplex is a no-man's land for us right now, too many ships for my method of freeing to work. The rebellion is progressing well on all fronts, and I believe the Collective is starting to realize that it's going to loose."

She smiled that brilliant smile again and Kathryn's heart surged with hope. A way to end the Borg threat once and for all. And gain a powerful ally at the same time! "Whatever we can do to help you in your struggle, we can. Our ship can tow yours, but if I may ask, where do you intend to go?"

Erin shrugged slightly. "We had intended to join the front near Sector 832, why?"

Kathryn smiled enigmatically, "I believe I have a plan of attack that could result in freeing nearly all of the Borg in a single stroke."

Annika's eyes widened, looking at her beloved in shock. She had seen that look before, the look of predatory cunning that indicated Kathryn was about to pull off something daring and dangerous. Erin's eyes widened, but she leaned forward in her eagerness. "How?"

The Captain grinned. "Let's go pay the Queen a little visit."

* * *

Work on Voyager was proceeding at a rapid pace. Special alcoves for Borg crewmembers were being set up once more in Cargo Bay 2, and Borg were seen all over the ship, assisting B'Elanna's engineers in installing Borg upgrades to as many systems as they could. In 3 days time, the ship would lock onto the Borg probe and carry it with them in a direct course to the Federation. They would then escort the Borg delegation to the Federation and initiate a plan of war that could result in removing the Borg threat to the galaxy in one stroke. Crew morale was so high, Neelix thought that people would surely burst soon. Even the stocky Talaxian, who hadn't had as much experience with the Borg as the Federation crew, knew how dangerous they were. True, with the upgrades Annika had brought, the ship could hold it's own against several Borg vessels, but this was to be a concerted attack on the Borg home system.

Erin had been shown the Omega storage pods in the tips of the nacelles and had been stunned to awed silence as Seven told her that her older counterpart had found a way to stabilize Omega. After a bit of wrangling, the Captain had allowed a small Omega power source to be installed in the Borg probe, to supplement their own power systems, which had been badly damaged in the fight. The little ship now had fully functioning Transwarp drive and was working furiously on synthesizing another transwarp coil to fit into Voyager's specially designed Transwarp manifold. The little ship's impulse and warp drives were wrecked beyond repair, short of a total refit, so they were being ignored. Erin had been impressed with the drive specs of Seven's suit, Starwind, and had said that if it came down to it, she would ask Seven to tow the ship into battle.

Kathryn was making final reports when the call came. "Chakotay to the Captain."

"Go ahead?"

"We're ready when you are, Captain. The Liberty has called to say they'll open the transwarp corridor on your mark."

"Acknowledged, I'll be right there." She set down the report and strode swiftly onto the bridge.

"Status?" She glanced around, noting Harry and Tuvok at Ops and Tactical, respectively, Tom Paris, the best pilot in the galaxy, at the helm. B'Elanna and Annika stepped out of the turbolift, the feisty half-Klingon engineer stepping to her bridge station as Annika took Seven's customary spot above and behind the two command chairs. Seven was out in Starwind, to stand by in case the tractor beam tow to the Borg probe broke.

"We're ready whenever you are" B'Elanna called. The viewscreen shifted from a starscape to a call from the Liberty.

"Liberty to Voyager. We await your command."

Kathryn grinned inwardly. That sounded so odd coming from a Borg ship. "Engage transwarp."

The little ship slid smoothly forward, grabbing the smaller Borg ship in a tractor beam. The tiny figure of Starwind flew close by the Borg vessel, ready to help if the tractor beam cut for any reason. With the little cube-like ship nestled close to Voyager's secondary hull, the larger ship could extend it's warp field to encompass it, helping it into warp. The small ship glowed as they activated the transwarp drive, opening a hole into subspace. The two figures around it also glowed as the transwarp field enveloped them, and all three vessels shot forward, vanishing with a silent emerald explosion.

* * *

The ride had been very rough, but it was nearing it's conclusion. The transwarp corridor was much more stable than the one Voyager had been able to make, but the ship was still rocked about by the subspace turbulence as the tiny ship beneath it tried to compensate for the larger ship riding it's wake. Starwind was having no problem riding the rapids, but she was much smaller than the ship that was generating the field. Still, the gradient in this corridor was much higher than the one that Voyager had used. In mere minutes, they would be able to cross the remaining few thousand light-years home.

"Liberty to Voyager. Corridor terminus in 15 seconds." Janeway nodded, acknowledging the time. Home. She was finally coming Home. She could hardly believe that after nearly five years in the Delta Quadrant, she was finally bringing her ship home. The end of the corridor was in sight now, and the light at the end of the tunnel suddenly bloomed into a familiar starscape. The three ships arrowed out of the corridor, dropping out of transwarp.

The sight that greeted them was both heartening and startling at the same time. An entire fleet of ships were encompassing the trio. Starwind still flew escort, keeping close to the Borg ship, ready and willing to defend it. Harry blinked, "Um, captain? We're receiving a few dozen hails. There's one from Admiral Paris."

"Onscreen."

The view of so many Federation ships was replaced with the familiar face of Admiral Paris. Tom looked up in surprise. Janeway nodded to him. "Hello Admiral. It's good to be home."

"Voyager! What... How..?" The sight of the usually stern admiral looking totally flabbergasted made Janeway smile.

"It's a long story, Admiral." 'That seems to be my catchphrase nowadays.' "Suffice it to say, we've brought a delegation from the Delta quadrant, wishing to open peaceful negotiations with the Federation."

"Are you aware you have a Borg ship beneath you Captain?" The stern face of the Admiral was back now.

"Yes, I do, Admiral. They are the delegation."

Janeway knew it was wrong to subject the man to this many shocks in close succession, but the bug-eyed look on Admiral Paris's face would be one of the high points of her life. "A... A Borg Delegation????"

"That's right, Admiral. The Borg Collective is in a state of civil war. The leader of the resistance has contacted Voyager, requesting Federation assistance in fighting the Collective."

The admiral's mouth opened and closed a few times as he wrapped his mind around that concept. "We...We'll have to see. I'm issuing orders to escort you and the...the Borg delegation to Earth for high-level negotiations."

Janeway nodded as the Admiral cut the connection. The instant the channel was closed, there was a minor uproar on the bridge. Harry was standing in shock behind his ops console, unable to believe that after a full five years in the Delta quadrant, he could finally see his family again. B'Elanna was teasing Tom about how he was going to keep the girls off him, now that he was famous. Tuvok was his usual stoic self, but Chakotay was all smiles as Kathryn sank down in her chair.

"Tom." A hush fell over the bridge. "Set a course. For Home."

* * *

The celebratory fireworks as Voyager entered Earth's atmosphere brought a smile to Kathryn's face. She knew without a doubt that she would rather have this little ship than any other ship in the fleet. But Starfleet would probably want to take Voyager apart to find out what she did to the ship. She sighed, and glanced at Annika, who seemed amused by something. "Something on your mind?"

Annika grinned at the Captain. "Permission to disembark and give them a real fireworks display."

Kathryn blinked, then a slow smile spread across her face. "Permission granted. Give them a show."

Annika's smile bloomed into that heart-pounding brilliance, then she stepped quickly off the bridge, calling Starwind as she did to arrange the show.

The door slid open to the shuttle bay and Annika stepped through. She nodded to the bright-eyed ensign at the console. "Open the bay doors."

She stepped to the right, to the special alcove she and B'Elanna had installed very shortly after she had arrived. A similar alcove stood to the left, where Seven could enter Starwind. Annika was clad in her Velocity outfit, short shorts, a tanktop and traction slippers, suitable attire for the form-fitting suit. She stepped into the alcove, placing her feet into the opened boots of the suit. The automatic sequence began, fitting the inner exoskeleton to her body, fusing it in place and attaching the framework of the musculature to the skeleton. The electronics package followed next, then the outer armor shell as Annika was encased in Valkyrie.

The suit took shape around her as the breastplate and chest plate were fitted onto her, the wing-mounts extended as the warp-nacelles were carefully fitted into the wings, the Omega power core on the back glowing a brilliant blue as it was charged from the ship's stores. The helmet locked in place, shutting out the world around Annika. The heads-up display activated, displaying a message, "Beginning systems checks." The suit continued to assemble itself around the woman as the onboard computer ran through it's startup sequence. The wings were fitted into the mounts.

"Neural Interface established." The heads-up display was replaced by external sensors as the suit's computer began feeding sensory data directly to Annika through a specially designed interface implant, the suit effectively becoming part of her body. She regained full visibility and could feel the suit's movements, could control it with a thought.

The suit detached itself from the alcove. Valkyrie stepped out with a soft clank, nodding to the ensign, who had opened the doors while she was suiting up. She activated the thrusters in palms and heels, rising from the floor and angling forward, wings spreading and the trailing edges flared red as she shot forward and out of the ship.

"Valkyrie to Starwind." Annika exhilarated in the sensation of flight. Not the contrived experience of flying a shuttle, or the artificial sensations on the holodeck, but this, flying with nothing between her and the stars.

"Starwind here. What's going on, Valkyrie?"

"Let's give them a real fireworks display. Activate your armor and begin a high-speed run. I'll keep up. Photonic grenades, full spread, minimal yield."

Seven grinned. "Acknowledged."

The two starsuits took up position to port and starboard bow of Voyager and began releasing dozens, hundreds of photonic grenades. It looked like two streamers of light, bracketing the larger ship. Then the pair began accelerating. Valkyrie didn't have the raw power to boost ahead like Starwind did, but she could and did outpace the larger ship. A sapphire spire of energy shot forward, and Starwind suddenly blasted forward. The starsuit dived, digging deeper into the atmosphere, powering through with that oversized impulse drive of hers, forgoing continued photonic grenades when a plasma trail began forming around her. Her ablative armor and transphasic shields could protect Starwind from a supernova shockwave at close range, but it also precluded any launch of the miniature torpedoes.

The world watched as the golden streak blasted across the sky, visible from Tropic of Cancer to Tropic of Capricorn, speeding around the world in a mere 80 minutes, rising once more as Voyager and Valkyrie began the final approach to Starfleet headquarters. Once clear of the atmosphere, she called to Voyager. "Request clear airspace for 30km around Starfleet Headquarters."

Valkyrie relayed the message, and Janeway, amused, forwarded it. The air traffic controller wanted to know what was going on, but Janeway told him it was a surprise. The man, startled to be addressing the captain of the most famous ship in the Federation, straightened so fast Kathryn thought he must have cracked his spine, and began clearing the air around Starfleet.

Once the go-ahead came to her, Starwind began diving. No ordinary dive, this, but a repeat of her dive on the military complex that time B'Elanna had been captured. She slowly turned over, then pulled back, her wings flaring bright as she dove into Earth's atmosphere at almost a 90-degree angle. At orbital speed, she quickly smashed through the atmosphere, her armor glowing red-hot, white-hot, the plasma trail flaring out behind her as she sped downward like a falling star. As she neared the ground, she pulled out of the dive, still well over Mach 4, her armor and shields set to emit a fierce golden glow, the armor's substance forming a trail behind her as the shields kept in the intense heat of her passage. She dove again, smashing through the lower atmosphere and visible as a meteor falling directly towards Starfleet Headquarters, at the last second, as Voyager herself was flying over the complex, she pulled up under the ship, falling alongside and trailing fire behind her as she kept pace with the ship.

As Voyager settled to the ground, Starwind flared, expelling the heat trapped inside her shields and letting her armor drop as she and Valkyrie settled to the ground beside the starship. The huge croud that had assembled by this time gasped in awe of the two humanoid figures standing beside the starship. The corrdoned off area beneath the shipis kept clear of people by forcefields, set up between portable poles. Valkyrie and Starwind strode over to flank the decending ramp. The forcefield here flickered out as the ramp thunked home into the soil, and Captain Kathryn Janeway led her crew down. Admiral Paris strode to meet them as the stepped off the ramp, the captain flanked by the two impressive suited individuals.

As the crowd roared their approval, Admiral Paris stepped forward and clasped Captain Janeway's hand, smiling widely. "Welcome home, Voyager. Welcome home."

As the crowd's roar increased in volume, Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager did something she hadn't done in over five years. She broke down and cried in joy.

* * *

AN: BWAHAHAHAHA! I have returned! and I bear gifts of new story! please don't kill me! ^^;; There's more to come, so stay tuned! Remember, reviewing makes me update faster! ^.^


	10. Chapter 10 : Mediation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

* * *

Personal log, Seven of Nine, Stardate 52893.2

The Federation has fought a war during the time Voyager was away. They are only now starting to recover from that war, but we must convince them that the Borg threat must be dealt with now, before Erin's...that is, Mother's Republic can be crushed. The Borg Collective is far more dangerous now that they have a foe worthy of serious fear. They will probably step up the assimilation of formerly ignored races, just to provide more troops to combat Mother's Republic. I realize that the Federation suffered great loss during the Dominion war, but at least they didn't fire on Mother's ship.

The Voyager is currently in orbit of Earth, being used as neutral ground for the high-level talks between the Federation Council and the Borg delegation. This has been going on for a week now, and as yet, I have no data on when the Fleet will deploy to assist Erin...that is, my mother.

I've been learning what I could access of the Dominion War. It turns out that the Dominion was a power in the Gamma Quadrant who decided that we in the alpha quadrant were a threat. They took the sensible precaution of sending a fleet through the Bajoran wormhole and took DS9. What they didn't count on was what had resisted the Borg on numerous occasions, the sheer stubbornness of humanity and their tendency to find a way to their goal. In some ways I was both proud of Starfleet's resistance and saddened by the loss of life on both sides. Still, I was proud that my parents' species had managed to resist this latest threat.

I must begin my duty shift in Engineering shortly. B'Elanna has told me she's putting in a request for my transfer to Engineering, to help her compile a list of changes to Voyager over the five years she spent away from the Federation.

End Log.

* * *

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 52894.1

I've been going over and over the minutes for the past week and a half and I've yet to find any point where Erin said the Borg would disarm, Admiral Hayes's adamant belief notwithstanding. I'll have to tell him that sometime tomorrow, but he's a prickly old bear, and I have to be careful when I tell him. He doesn't exactly shoot the messenger, but he can give you a talking to that would peel the hull off a starship.

The Utopia Planetia engineers will be arriving tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to that encounter either. Some of them view the ships they build like their own flesh and blood, and here I've done terrible things to their baby. Sorry, Voyager. Still, many of the upgrades we've made to Voyager should be incorporated into the designs for the next class of starship I've heard rumors of. Fast, maneuverable, and capable of extremely long-range missions, and designed primarily as an exploration ship, not a warship for a change.

But it all might be for nothing if we don't get this interminable treaty signed soon. The Borg Collective doesn't have layers on layers of red tape to cut through before they mobilize a force to come here and crush two eggs with one stone.

End Log.

* * *

Annika was slowly going out of her mind with boredom. She wondered why she had insisted on being allowed to sit in on these interminable negotiations. Back and forth, back and forth for hours with no real progress made, no matter what her Beloved did. She caught herself idly contemplating the most efficient path that would knock out the longwinded admiral Starfleet had sent to negotiate with Erin--her mother. She actually started a bit when she realized she had started to dose off in her chair when the alert came in.

"Captain, we're receiving a priority one message from Starfleet!"

Janeway blinked and tapped her commbadge. "Put it through to my console here."

Annika rose smoothly and came around the arguing diplomats to stand just behind Kathryn's chair, one hand on the back, watching the small console intently. A priority one message was a report of a major disaster. The Viewscreen shifted from the Federation flag to the familiar face of Admiral Necheyev. Her slender hands were clenched tight as she gazed solemnly out at Captain Janeway. "The USS Valdeez was studying an intense ion cloud when they sent this transmission. As you are aware, the Valdeez was an Akira-class ship. This was the only transmission they were able to send."

The screen changed to a static-ridden aft view from the Akira-class ship's bridge, showing the rear pylons and the engineering bridge, a flood of photon torpedos being fired into the nebula the ship was fast leaving. As the torpedos entered, some of them started detonating just inside the nebula, then the ship the Valdeez was firing on emerged. Huge, black and cubical, the Borg ship swept toward the tiny vessel and with a single bright-emerald torpedo, the transmission went black. The view changed to the petite admiral again, and this time, even the diplomats were watching.

"As of this moment, you are to report to sector 007 and rendezvous with the fleet massing there. We have received reports that this ship is on a direct course for Earth. We'll need all the firepower we can mass to stop them, and I've recalled the Sovereign, the Enterprise and the Legacy. You are ordered to rendezvous with the fleet and provide tactical data on the Borg to those in command. You will not, repeat NOT engage. If the fleet is lost, you have top-priority clearance to evacuate. Necheyev out."

There was a silence in the room, then Erin turned to Admiral Hayes, who had turned pale at the news that another Borg ship was headed to Earth. The Admiral had only just survived the disastrous battle at Wolf 359, being trapped in a damaged compartment of his ship while trying to evacuate the last survivors from the crippled ship. Erin regarded him thoughtfully, then spoke in a calm voice. "We of the Borg Republic ship Liberty stand ready to aid the Federation in this time of crisis. If my ship's communications equipment were operable, I could send a call to bring more of our forces to aid you, but in any event, my engineers would be invaluable in helping to disable this intruder."

For a long moment, Hayes merely stared blankly at the petite Borg Queen, then he nodded and sighed, "I don't trust the Borg, but for some reason I feel I can trust you. But your ship's engines are crippled, it'd take you weeks to get to the battle, and even if you could come in time, we can't spare a ship to tow you around the battle."

Seven stood calmly behind her mother's left shoulder. "Starwind could tow the Liberty."

Hayes blinked at the statuesque woman. "Starwind?"

Janeway interposed, "Starwind was the codename Seven gave to her project to design a personal mobility suit. I've seen the schematics, it's fully capable of towing the Liberty at speed."

The admiral hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. Make preparations to leave immediately. I'll contact Starfleet and let them know we'll be bringing company."

Janeway nodded and Annika smiled inwardly. This was why her Beloved was considered the best diplomat in the Delta Quadrant. Under stress, she could get people to do almost anything she wanted them to. "Captain."

Janeway turned slightly to gaze up at the silver-haired woman behind her, "Yes, Annika?"

"I will fly Valkyrie into battle."

Janeway nodded, sighing slightly. If there was a place for Valkyrie in the coming battle, it would be on the front lines. Annika had designed the starsuit to singlehandedly smash into the Borg Unicomplex some thirty years from now, and had accidentally been thrown back in time to a point where both her younger self and the woman she had come to rescue were in the Unicomplex.

"Very well. But please be careful."

Annika smiled wryly, "When have I not been?"

Janeway grinned and left the conference room, just as the Red Alert sounded.

* * *

AN: BWAHAHAHAHA! I told you I wasn't done with this fic yet! ^.^ There's more to come after this too, so stay tuned! I may not be able to update this as fast as I did originally, I've got college starting soon, and even less time to work on it. Also, I've become involved in some online RPG work, so that's chewing up some time as well. Keep the reviews coming, more reviews means less time between updates!


	11. Chapter 11 : Confrontation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

* * *

Voyager slid majestically out of it's orbit, turning and raising it's nacelles as the small ship readied itself for warp. Two tiny figures were flanking the smaller cube-like ship beneath it, their brilliant-blue wings enveloping the small ship in a warp bubble as the Voyager shifted into that other space where light travels much much faster than it does here.

On the bridge, Captain Kathryn Janeway stood with hands on hips, a brooding look on her face as Admiral Hayes watched from behind the railing as the ship arrowed towards the battle. Kathryn stirred slightly, glancing at Ensign Harry Kim at ops. "Put Starfleet subspace frequency one-four-eight-six on audio." The young ensign did so, the channel suddenly blaring to life as ships reported their readiness for battle, counting off.

"This is Captain Sisko, the Defiant is ready."

"Phoenix here, ready on your command."

"Legacy standing by."

"Sovereign here, that's the last of them Picard."

The Starfleet had lost many ships at the battles of Wolf 359, Sector 001, and Cardassia, but they had rebuilt many of them and built new ones as fast as they could be turned out. A full thirty ships of the line had assembled so far, with another dozen or so incoming. The Enterprise-E was where she should have been, on the front line of the armada in the path of the oncoming Borg ship. The huge starship, designed to fight the Borg, carried the most destructive weaponry in the fleet, and it's two sister ships, the Sovereign after whom the class of vessel was named and the Legacy took up flanking positions at the edges of the fleet. Instead of a flat sheet of ships this time, the fleet had assembled into a wall, with all ships facing forward and stacked like bricks in a wall of force.

Voyager was about a minute away when Picard's voice, strong and clear, came over the channel, "All ships, Engage."

The wall of ships on the viewscreen seemed to erupt, every ship firing all the torpedos it could, phasers firing and the new quantum torpedos streaking out from the ships that carried them. The onrushing black cube was obscured behind a wall of light as the massive firepower unleashed by the fleet smashed into it, their shields flickering as they struggled to deal with the overflow of energy.

Voyager arrowed into the system now, the Borg Republic ship latching onto Starwind with a tractor beam. Valkyrie broke off the instant they dropped out of warp, Starwind peeling off to the side as Voyager began to circle the battle at long range, not yet a target for the Borg Cube. Kathryn's voice rose over the chatter as she gave a clear call. "Voyager to Enterprise, incoming reinforcements. Clear a path to the cube."

The ships began moving as Valkyrie swung in behind them. Picard's strong baritone gave commands as she began her run, accelerating to full impulse and tripping in the impulse thrusters as she began the charging sequence on the disruptor cannon mounted on her wingtips. "Valkyrie to the fleet. As soon as I begin my run, fire all weapons at my impact point."

"Enterprise to Valkyrie, Godspeed."

Annika grinned slightly at the reply from Locutus. She slammed her accelerator forward, flashing past the ships in the wall, streaking towards the onrushing cube, which was now striking out at the ships that defied it. Taking careful aim, she raised her right arm, the cannon along it glowing blue-white with the power of Omega. At the last moment, she pulled back, letting fly with her disruptors. The emerald bolts of energy pounded into the shields of the cube, sending precisely modulated energy backwash through the shield generators. With a crimson shower of sparks, the generators overloaded, the shields in that area dropping as the humanoid figure floated motionless in space in front of the ship. A spiral of sapphire energy slashed from her rifle, slamming into the unprotected Borg ship with incredible force, blowing a small section of the ship to atoms. At the same time, Valkyrie accelerated out of the way as about a dozen photon torpedos slashed into the opening, detonating in the interior of the Cube.

* * *

"Borg Liberty to Starwind. We have a means of converting this Cube to our side, but we need to be closer. Bring us within transporter range of the Cube."

"Acknowledged, Liberty. Starwind to Voyager, I am taking the Liberty closer. They have a means of breaking the Collective's hold over this ship."

"Starwind, repeat?"

Seven frowned slightly. "The Liberty has the means to remove the Collective's hold over this cube, but they must be within transporter range of the cube for it to work."

There was a pause. Then a new voice came on. "This is Admiral Hayes. All ships, protect the Liberty at all costs. If we can make an ally of this cube, we might turn the tide against the Borg."

The fleet began to break up as the cube swept through their ranks, the ships letting fly with all the torpedos they had left, Valkyrie blasting holes in the cube's shields to allow the torpedoes to have a greater effect. Starwind began arcing inward, dragging the borg probe behind her, her powerful impulse engines at full power as she dove towards the cube, bringing her mother's ship in behind it like a horse pulling a Roman chariot.

"Starwind to Liberty, we're in range."

"Acknowledged, Starwind. Stand by for transphasic pulse."

Starwind activated her shields, knowing a transphasic pulse could cripple the Borg cube's power system, rendering them helpless without further damage. The tiny ship behind her suddenly flared with golden light, the pulse shockwave washing over Seven's shields as it slashed past her, impacting and destabilizing the aft shields of the Borg Cube. The cube seemed to realize it's danger, but far to late to do anything about it, the cube's interior lighting dimming suddenly, going black and drifting to a stop, dead in space.

* * *

For a long moment, the bridge on the Voyager was silent. Then a restrained cheering broke out as Kathryn turned to Admiral Hayes and grinned, "Does that prove the Liberty's good faith? They neutralized a Borg Cube for us in a single shot."

Hayes nodded, shaking Kathryn's hand energetically. "They've certainly proved themselves in my eyes. I'll look forward to cementing our relationship quickly."

Kathryn shook her head slowly, "That's not enough, Admiral. The Collective knows where we are, and that we've allied with the Republic against it. We are its two most dangerous enemies, the part of itself that rebelled and the single foe that has consistently defied it. They won't stop until both of us are destroyed. We need to go on the offensive. We need to take the fight to the Borg."

The Bridge hushed as the Captain spoke, Admiral Hayes listening with a surprised look at the purposeful tone in Kathryn's voice. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded slowly. "Admiral Necheyev agrees with you. I confess, I'm beginning to see her point. Very well, I'll organize a fleet..." He trailed off as Kathryn shook her head.

"A mere fleet won't be enough. We need to upgrade as many ships as we can with Borg technology to even pose a threat to the Collective. I'm not planning on fighting this from the rear, I intend to take the fleet to the Collective's heart and tear it out." The venom in Kathryn's voice startled the elderly admiral. "I intend to crush the Collective with one swift stroke. And there's only one way to do that, a concerted attack on the Unicomplex itself."

Annika's eyes shone as she listened to her beloved's words. She herself had intended once upon a time to singlehandedly destroy the Unicomplex, but such a course of action would have been a suicide run. As it turned out, she had miscalculated the temporal coordinates and had arrived more than three decades early, just in time to assist her beloved in rescuing her younger self from the Queen. She quickly returned to the ship, Starwind still towing the Liberty back to the rest of the fleet.

The Admiral nodded slowly, "Fine. I'll propose such to the Starfleet Council." He turned to Erin Hansen, the Queen of the Borg Republic, and mother of both Seven of Nine and Annika Hansen. "I believe we were in the process of hammering out a peace treaty between our peoples?" The petite Borg smiled and nodded, leading the way back to the conference lounge.

* * *

A few hours later, Annika moved close to the Captain on the couch in the Captain's quarters. She and Kathryn had long-stemmed glasses of wine, Annika's almost empty as she sipped, snuggled close against her beloved. "I believe I understand."

Janeway glanced up into Annika's curiously light blue eyes, now the blue of a hot flame as they gazed into the captain's dark blue eyes. A smile quirked the side of Kathryn's mouth as she raised an eyebrow. "Understand what, love?"

Annika quivered slightly. Her heart always raced when Kathryn used that word. "Why I felt so surprised when I heard Mother's voice. I had spent so long thinking only of rescuing you I had forgotten my mother still lived."

Janeway reached around the ex-Borg's waist, snuggling closer and leaning her head against Annika's shoulder as she set her wineglass down on the coffee table. "I know what you mean. There were times in my career I almost forgot I had family outside of Starfleet."

The statuesque white haired woman nodded gently, her human right hand stroking down Janeway's back, sending a shiver through the smaller woman. A slight smile crooked Annika's lips as she leant down to kiss her beloved deeply. Janeway's hand had been rubbing Annika's belly gently, tracing the lines of silver on the flat abdomen, but now they took on an erotic life of their own, pressing up under Annika's t-shirt to tease her breasts, drawing a soft gasp from the taller woman. The look in Kathryn's eyes as Annika gazed down into their stormy depths promised a great deal. With a delighted smile, Annika surrendered to her Captain's command, body and soul.

* * *

Work progressed rapidly, the three Sovereign-Class vessels being the first to arrive at the agreed coordinates, dwarfed by the massive Borg Republic Cube. The many thousands of drones within the cube had yet to come to a consensus on what to call their ship, being a mixed crew of hundreds of species, all of which had their own ideas of what to call the ship. Until they decided, it was referred to as BRC 0937820, the numeric designation of their order of release from the dominion of the Collective. Erin had transfered her command platform from the small Borg Probe Liberty to this new ship, now protected within several cubic miles of powerful ship.

As the Galaxy-class ships were being refitted with hull-armor deployment vanes mounted on the ends of their phaser arrays, the Sovereign-Class ships were outfitted with photonic replicators, able to replicate the antimatter required for the photon torpedos that the new replicators supplied. This seemingly simple modification gave them immensely greater firepower, as they could now keep up a continuous barrage of photon torpedos at full yield without running out of stock. Quantum torpedos, however, were too complex and required specific components impossible to replicate, limiting their number, but with the replicators, the three ships now had several hundred bays which were being loaded as fast as possible with the terrible weapons of war.

The three largest ships in the Federation fleet were also being outfitted with unique Borg transwarp repeater manifold. The ships couldn't handle the strain of producing a transwarp field large enough to encompass the entire fleet, and there wasn't enough time or material to outfit each ship with a transwarp coil. Voyager would generate the field necessary to send the fleet into transwarp, but the other ships would have to remain within the area defined by the positions of the three Sovereign-Class vessels and the Cube. As the one ship capable of generating a transwarp conduit with a strong enough gradient to get the fleet to the Unicomplex and back in mere minutes, the little ship would lead the others into battle.

Voyager held station keeping near the three ships, her unmistakable blue-tipped nacelles instantly drawing her out from the dozens around the cube, signifying her power-source, greater than that of all the combined starships around her. Work was proceeding on Voyager as well, replacing the hull-armor generators with a transphasic pulse emission system, turning the entire ship into a giant version of the deflector that the Borg probe used to disable and free the Cube. The Borg Republic had experimented with this before, but the power drain always caused a priority shutdown of the ship to avoid overloading the warp cores due to the immense energy drain. Now, however, with the Omega power source, they were able to implement it at last; a wide-scale weapon designed not to harm, but to free their brethren from the clutches of the Collective.

Seven and Annika had spent the first few days designing refinements to the Federation phaser array systems, which the Borg were implementing as fast as they could. The sight of the augmented humanoids on the hulls of Federation ships was growing to be a familiar sight to those in the armada, the huge numbers of skilled workers making possible refits that would ordinarily take several months in a mere seven days. That was the deadline. In seven days from the battle that had freed the Borg Cube, the Federation would make one last desperate stroke against the Collective itself, turning the tide and hopefully cementing peaceful relations between the Borg Republic and the Federation forever.

* * *

Captain Kathryn Janeway was in her ready room when the call came.

"Captain to the Bridge!" Chakotay's voice vibrated with excitement. That was understandable, the entire crew had been not only reunited with their families when they returned home, but had been told that they were the most senior crew in the fleet, bar a very select few. All of them had promotions waiting for them, and several offers from all areas of the 'Fleet. Not only that, but they had been honored to be selected as the flagship of this armada, placed in command even over the massive Sovereign-Class vessels, including the Enterprise herself.

Kathryn stood, stepping quickly to the door, which slid open with a soundless motion. Stepping past it, she froze, stunned by the sight of the entire top brass of Starfleet standing on her bridge. Swallowing a sudden lump in her throat, the petite woman strode down to meet them, wondering if at the last minute they had decided to let Picard or one of the other captains command the fleet, or perhaps the windbag Hayes, trying to recover past glory, had decided to tag along. She would refuse that, even if it meant Voyager had to stay behind, she resolved.

"Tennnn SHUN!"

The bark from someone in the admirals' party made spines straighten all across the bridge. Even the former Maquis members who had never been in Starfleet before the disaster that brought them to the Delta Quadrant had forced them together stood at attention. Tom Paris stood beside his father, grinning like an idiot, while Chakotay struggled to restrain a grin himself. Puzzled, Janeway stood at attention, nodding as Admiral Necheyev stepped forward. The petite woman glared at Janeway.

"Once upon a time, I thought you would never live up to your father's example." Kathryn stiffened in outrage at the admission, but the admiral continued, "Which just goes to show that even I sometimes have to eat my words." She stepped forward and pulled the pips off Kathryn's shoulder, replacing them with something else before the captain could react. Stepping back, Janeway was surprised to see a grin playing across the small admiral's hawk-like features. "Congratulations, Admiral Janeway, on one of the most dazzling missions in the history of Starfleet. You've earned a place in the history books alongside such greats as Zephram Cochrane and James Tiberius Kirk, Kathy. We expect great things of you." Her voice dropped as pandemonium broke out on the bridge. "Don't let us down out there."

Stunned speechless, Admiral Janeway could only nod as she fingered the admiral's bar on her collar. Necheyev nodded and gave her one of her rare smiles. Then the small woman saluted and nodded before one of the admiral's party contacted the ship to transport them off Voyager. Before the beam could whisk her away, Necheyev winked and murmured. "Go kick some ass, Janeway."

Heartened immeasurably by this show of good faith and confidence, Janeway rose to her full height and nodded to the disappearing forms of the admirals. When they were gone, she swept the bridge with her piercing stare. She spotted both Annika and Seven behind the rail, Seven on Annika's left as the pair stood at attention, looking like twins as their eyes glowed with pride. Utter silence fell as Janeway took a breath.

"Status of the fleet?"

Newly-promoted Lieutenant Kim grinned hugely as he reported, "All ships report final completion of major modifications. Minor modifications still in progress, but they should be complete before we reach the Unicomplex. The Cube has requested permission to leave the drones on the hulls, to perform repairs during battle."

Kathryn shook her head. "An interesting idea, but I dislike leaving them exposed on the hull. Have them stationed inside the ships."

Harry nodded as Tom took his seat in the helmsman's pit before the command chairs. He seemed to anticipate his Admiral's next order as she spoke, "Tom, lay in a course. To the Delta Quadrant. Contact the Enterprise, the Legacy, and the Sovereign, have them encompass the fleet. The Cube should be just behind us, and shield the rest of the fleet as much as it can before we break formation. Hopefully by that point we should have a few more on our side."

Harry nodded as the Captain tapped a control on her chair's arm, opening an all-ship channel.

"This is Capt- Admiral Janeway. You all know what is at stake. You're the finest crew in the fleet, and I would never have any other crew, or any other ship than Voyager. We made this ship our home during the past five years, and she's never failed us. Here's to one last mission, crew of Voyager! And may it bring peace to the galaxy!"

With that ringing speech, the entire crew cheered as one, the little ship moving out of station keeping, the massive cube just behind her, the fleet of modified starships following in its wake like so many ducklings following their mother. Behind them, the three long, menacing forms of the Sovereign-Class vessels formed an immense triangular formation behind the fleet.

As the strange armada moved off, the blue tips of Voyager's nacelles glowed brighter and brighter, the Cube beginning to glow a venomous green as it powered up it's transwarp drive. With a blinding flash, the tiny ship in the lead tore space itself asunder and the fleet arrowed through the opening.

And into battle.

* * *

AN: BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! I told you I would return! ^.^ It took me this long due to an increase in schoolwork, but this is leaves only 2 more chapters left in the story! Anyways, Read & Review!


	12. Chapter 12 : Desperation

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

PPS: Warning! LOOOOONG chapter! ^^; I got a bit carried away with this one, so be warned, you may not be able to finish it all in one sitting.

* * *

The Fleet was compressed as they flew in formation through the transwarp corridor, the three long, menacing forms of the Sovereign-Class vessels following the fleet at a wide distance, their transwarp repeater units keeping the massive corridor open for the dozens of starships inside. The massive Borg Cube, ahead of the fleet, was generating the field, but the tiny ship just before it was powering through the transwarp eddies like a shark through the sea.

"Enterprise to Defiant, adjust course three degrees starboard, you're nearing the perimeter of the safe zone."

"Acknowledged, Enterprise, adjusting heading."

Such conversations were taking place between all sorts of craft in the corridor. They had been traveling at an astonishing rate of speed for the past five minutes, traveling over ten thousand light-years in that time. The corridor gradient was much higher than normal, being generated as it was by an energy source greater than the combined power output of all planetary and starship power systems in the Federation. The tiny starship at the head of the oddly-comprised fleet almost rippled visibly with power as it cut through subspace at a terrifying rate of speed.

* * *

On the bridge of the Federation Starship Voyager, newly promoted Admiral Kathryn Janeway stood at attention on her bridge. For the past five years or so, her ship had been lost in the Delta Quadrant, and she had only managed to get her ship home with the help of a rebel faction of the dreaded Borg Collected, headed by her beloved's mother, Erin Hansen. Now, in command of the most powerful starship in the galaxy, and commanding a fleet of starships that could level a planet's surface, she was heading into battle once more. Over her five years in the Delta Quadrant, she had faced innumerable foes, Kazon, Vidiian, and others, including the powerful Borg Collective. Not only had she proven conclusively that resistance was far from futile, she was now leading the attack force on a direct course for the Borg Collective's heart. In a matter of minutes, her fleet would emerge from the transwarp corridor and battle would commence. The loss of life on both sides was bound to be high, but with the technology Annika's mother had installed on Voyager, they could turn the tide rapidly.

The transphasic pulse array had been added onto the phaser array, and was linked directly to the Omega power cores on the forward tips of the starships twin nacelles. The immense power of Omega would be channeled into a massive pulse, which would shut down, and free any Collective ship caught in range. This was the fleet's prime weapon, the ability to turn foe to friend.

Janeway turned, slowly meeting the eyes of her bridge crew. Staunch and trusted comrades all, they would give their lives before letting her down. She nodded to Commander Chakotay, then glanced up at Lieutenant Harry Kim at the Ops station, across the two tall blond women standing behind the railing to Commander Tuvok at tactical. Her eldest friend nodded in return as the Captain of Voyager took a breath to speak.

"You all I have grown to trust with my life. Not only my life, but the lives of my crew and the safety of this ship. For five years, Voyager's been our home. While we were gone, a war was fought and won at home, where we should have been, save for a twist of fate. Some of us lost loved ones in that war, others of us found them." She glanced from Ensign Samantha Wildman, who had been devastated to learn that her Katarian husband had been killed in the Dominion War, to Annika. The slightly lined face of the tall, statuesque woman held much wisdom and strength, honed during thirty years of isolation on a remote asteroid base, devoting her life to returning to the Borg Collective and wresting Janeway from the clutches of the Borg Queen. As it happened, she had returned not only in space, but in time as well, winding up more than thirty years in the past. Now, a constant partner to the dynamic captain, Annika had proven the rock that the volatile woman had needed to steady herself during the whirlwind return to the Alpha Quadrant.

"What we do now is to prevent another war from spreading to embroil the entire galaxy. We, more than anyone else in the Federation know just what threat the Borg pose. We cannot allow them to continue in their current path. We must strike, strike hard, strike now. With our new allies, we can and will stop the encroachment of the Borg, turn the tide of their advance, and destroy the Collective in favor of the Republic. With one stroke we will behead the hydra and bring a new order to the Collective, one of peaceful cooperation rather than assimilation."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "The plan of attack is as follows. Immediately after we exit the transwarp conduit, Voyager will emit a transphasic pulse, hopefully catching several nearby Collective ships unawares. Then we will move aside and let the Republic Cube take point as the rest of the fleet fans out. The Galaxy-class ships will act as shields for the larger vessels, including the Enterprise, the Sovereign, and the Legacy. The Nebula and smaller class ships will provide auxiliary fire for the larger ships, and the smaller Sabre- and Defiant-class vessels will provide harrying fire. Starwind and Valkyrie will provide point defense and tactical fire for Voyager, as we are limited by the transphasic array on both defense and offense."

Annika and Seven nodded, the pair looking very much like twins. The ex-drones were the only ones who could fly the integrated armor suits, originally designed by Annika some thirty years from now to strike deep into the heart of the Borg. Janeway glanced around the room, making note of their determined expressions. "You all know the risks. We may not prevail, we may not even survive. But, by all that's holy, we will try!"

With that last word, heads nodded emphatically from the human crewmembers, Tuvok raised an eyebrow, and both Annika and Seven's eyes sparkled with determination. A warning light glowed on Harry's console. "Two minutes mark from corridor exit, Ma'am."

Janeway nodded. It was most definitely crunch time, so Harry was justified in using that address. "Inform the fleet. Give Picard, Jamison, and Gerault my regards and have them spread the fleet around the Cube as soon as the pulse is released." She turned to Annika and Seven. "Suit up. Valkyrie and Starwind will disembark as soon as we've cleared the corridor."

The pair of ex-Borg nodded and headed to the turbolift. It always gave Kathryn a headache when they did that, too much like double vision. She turned back to the viewscreen, standing with hands on hips as Lieutenant Commander Tom Paris counted down the time.

* * *

Tactical Cube 382531 was conducting a routine sweep of the area around the Unicomplex when it detected the approach of a massive, high-gradient transwarp corridor. Moving off to investigate, it pinpointed the exit location and queried the Collective if a convoy of cubes were arriving. Receiving a negative, it was about to report its findings when the corridor opened. It instantly recognized the USS Voyager Registry number NCC-74656, the single ship that had not only defied the Collective at numerous points, but also had passed entirely through the Collective's space without being assimilated. The tactical cube veered closer, only to be caught in the transphasic pulse that washed out like a miniature supernova from the tiny ship. Independent subsystems scrambled to adapt the shields to the massive influx of energy, but the pulse was too strong and fast to be adapted to. Power systems began shutting down to avoid dangerous overloads as the armored cube went dark, its Vinculum suddenly inundated with a command sequence apparently from the Queen herself, ordering it to shut down and destroy the individuality suppression subsystems within itself after returning the assimilated drones to their own selves.

Drones all over the ship woke to the realization not only that they were free of the Collective, but aware of who they once were and that they were given a choice. If they could not deal with what had been done to them, they could self-terminate and return to oblivion. If they could handle the brutal shock of their new existence, they were offered the opportunity and means to strike back at those who had oppressed them, turned them into drones, and stripped them of all that made them unique. The vast majority of the Tactical Cube's compliment chose the latter option, although approximately 13.315% of the 128,319 drones on board chose to permanently shut down. The loss of that many drones wouldn't impair the efficiency of the Tactical Cube, and the remaining crewmembers set about rapidly bringing power back online.

The first shot of the Battle of the Unicomplex had been fired.

* * *

Voyager shot forward, Kathryn watching the familiar angular profusion of struts, complexes, geodesic shapes and other conglomerations that formed the seemingly chaotic mass that was the Unicomplex. Somewhere, deep in its heart was the Queen. She glanced from the viewscreen to Lt. Tom Paris, his deft hands darting over the helm with the practiced ease of a master pilot, comparable to virtuoso piano players and for the same reason. He didn't even need to watch his readouts as his fingers danced across the pads, controlling the small ship as if it were an extension of his own body. The side of Kathryn's mouth turned up slightly, remembering how Tom had watched thunderstruck as Annika in Valkyrie and Seven in Starwind had cavorted in an asteroid field only three months back, the look of puppy dog longing in his face indicating just how much the ace pilot envied the two cybernetically enhanced women their ability to interface with the suits directly, sensing their surroundings through the suits' sensors, the pseudo-musculature of the suit responding to neural impulses as fast as their organic muscles could, and in some cases a great deal faster.

Tom sent the little ship arrowing farther into the Unicomplex's space, passing the inert Tactical Cube as Erin Hansen's cube angled past them on the other side. The tiny ship was dwarfed by the several-cubic-kilometer craft, which moved to the side as the Federation fleet behind it began fanning out into a wall, several dozen photon torpedoes already in flight as the fleet swept into attack formation with Voyager at its head. Twelve cubes were on an intercept course now, and one of them was the primary target of every last ship in the fleet, the sheer number of photon torpedoes slamming into its shields overloading their capacity to adapt. As the ship's shields came down, quantum torpedoes were loosed from the ships that carried them, smashing into the cube and blowing huge chunks from it until it resembled a gigantic metal replica of a swiss cheese. Secondary explosions began ripping through the Cube's hull and it detonated with a spectacular display, the shock wave knocking two of the other cubes out of the fight as their shields collapsed.

Voyager was rapidly recharging its transphasic pulse generators, but it was still a full five minutes after the first pulse before the second could be unleashed. The tiny ship was flanked by two even tinier figures, the two starsuits of Valkyrie and Starwind acting as escort as the fleet broke formation, beginning to harass and distract the Borg Collective ships as the two lines of ships swept through each other. The more agile Federation ships might have been outclassed in firepower and defensive capability, but the addition of ablative armor generators on several of the Galaxy ships turned them into impenetrable shields for the ships carrying heavier armament. The three Sovereign-Class vessels were orbited by two Galaxies each as they bombarded the cubes nonstop with both phaser fire and torpedo salvos, the innovations Annika having brought back allowing them to replicate fully-formed photon torpedoes in the launching tubes themselves, though the energy required to do so was literally astronomical, requiring a dedicated Omega power source for each of the launchers.

Voyager, flanked by her two tiny escorts, darted like a dolphin through the titanic battle, unleashing its powerful transphasic pulse when it could, shutting down any nearby cubes and reinitializing them with the programming that would release their crews from Collective control. As the battle raged, more and more of the cubes were turning on their fellows, adding their firepower to the Federation armada. But more and more Collective cubes were heading to the fight as the sleek ships of the fleet battled hard.

* * *

Sisko roared over the sounds of minor explosions that echoed in the bridge, "DAMAGE REPORT!"

Major Kira Nerys picked herself up off the floor where she had been hurled, Doctor Julian Bashir helping her back to her console as Commander Worf spoke, "Shields at 38%, torpedoes are offline. Phasers are still online, but I'm not sure how much longer."

At the helm, Lt Nog hissed in pain from a small wound on one of his large ears, result of a ricochet from an exploding control panel. "Helm's not responding captain, I can only control our velocity and half the attitude thrusters on the port aft side."

Kira began reading off her report, "Casualties stacking up in sickbay, you'd better get down there Doctor." Julian nodded and rushed off to the turbolift, having to wrestle the doors open, Miles O'Brian emerging from the turbolift shaft as the Doctor held the door open for him, slipping down the shaft after the engineer had emerged.

Sisko steepled his fingers as he gazed at the static-laced viewscreen, a massive Borg cube dominating the view as the little ship drifted towards it. At that moment, a silver humanoid figure appeared in the right side of the viewscreen. Glowing gold highlights made it appear as if an angel of mercy had appeared out of nowhere. The greenish beam of two tractor-beams coming from its palms as the tiny figure latched onto the badly damaged ship at the same time as the figure hailed the ship, "Starwind to Defiant, I'm going to tractor you out of the immediate area. Liberty will keep you safe."

The mention of the Borg Republic's leader's ship still made Captain Benjamin Sisko's head hurt, but he nodded his thanks. "Thank you, Starwind. We'll commence repairs."

* * *

Seven marveled at the ease with which she towed the badly-damaged craft out of harm's way. The Borg-enhanced tractors had proved far more useful than she had imagined when Annika suggested the modification. The ability to tow ships to damaged to use their own tractors to lock onto her gave her far more use than she had realized, especially as her warp-powered impulse drive system could tow even a Sovereign-Class ship at full impulse, if needs be. She brought the tough little ship to the Liberty, already festooned with other Federation craft in similar state, all of them swarmed over with ex-Collective drones, repairing the damaged ships with a speed possible only for the highly-coordinated Borg.

She released the tractor-beams and flared her wings, blasting backward at high impulse as she turned over and arrowed back to Voyager. Her breath caught as she saw a Borg torpedo arrowing past several hulks and heading right for voyager's starboard nacelle. If the torpedo impacted, the resulting power surge could trigger a chain reaction within the Omega power cluster at the forward tip of the nacelle, ripping a gaping hole in subspace and destroying everything within this star system. Switching modes, she blasted forward at high warp for a nanosecond and stopped directly in the torpedo's path.

The torpedo struck her with massive force, the energetic fireball sending her tumbling head over heels past Voyager. She shook her head to clear the ringing in her ears as the armor regenerated itself, restoring her to pristine condition as she saw two more torpedoes arrowing in past a Nebula class ship towards Voyager. This time she remained at impulse, darting forward and snapping her arms out to the sides, the tractor beams from her palms snagging the two torpedoes as they shot past her, holding the two deadly weapons at a few meters from her body, caught in the tractor-beams' grips.

Spinning around, she hurled the two torpedoes one after another into a passing Collective cube, not doing much damage, but overloading a tertiary shield grid and allowing the Enterprise to loose a quantum torpedo into the breach. She accepted Locutus's... Picard's thanks, then shot after Voyager.

She'd be very glad when this was all over and she could cuddle up against her beloved B'Elanna.

* * *

Annika was in her element, a fierce grin of triumph on her face as she sent a crackling sapphire bolt into another cube's shields, the massive spike of energy shorting them out instantly. Her suit had been designed for precisely this, fighting the Borg and winning. She sent herself shooting around Voyager, her wingtip disruptor cannon spitting green fire at an incoming Borg torpedo, detonating it prematurely as it streaked towards the defenseless Voyager. She sent another blue bolt of fire out at the ship that had dared to strike at the ship her Beloved commanded, sending its shields crashing down as well, a well-placed shot from one of the other ships in the armada blowing off a corner of the now-defenseless cube.

She had to admit, the backup of the Federation fleet made this far more enjoyable than the prospect of doing it all herself had been. Then again, she had to control her rage at the thought that the Borg were trying to take her Beloved away from her in this. She flipped to the side and blew apart another torpedo as the little ship beneath her angled to fit between two cubes that were trying to catch Voyager between them. Valkyrie followed, the two cubes crunching into each other with devastating effect. Annika allowed herself another fierce grin.

Why bother shooting at them if they were just going to destroy themselves?

* * *

Erin Hansen was worried. Yes, only approximately 73.285% of the cubes assigned to the Unicomplex were still under the control of the Collective, but she needed more of them liberated to her side if she hoped to bring this battle to a successful conclusion. She gritted her teeth, not wanting to ask this, but forced to. She turned to face a viewscreen and it activated at her command, showing the bridge of Voyager.

"Admiral. I must request that you use the pulse only when more than 10 Collective cubes are within range. We simply aren't making enough converts."

Janeway hesitated a moment, "To do that, we'd have to let them surround us. That's a very dangerous proposition, Majesty."

Erin grinned slightly. The title was sort of a joke between the two women. She was a sort of Queen, having root-level access to the Borg sub network, allowing her to control many billions of drones at once, though she preferred to let them think on their own, merely acting as the recorder of their collective decisions and implementer of the majority will.

"I know it's dangerous, but the only other way to stop this conflict without being wiped out would be to force an Omega chain reaction inside the Unicomplex itself and hoping to escape through a transwarp corridor."

She saw Janeway stiffen and tighten her jaw, realizing she should not have mentioned that possibility to the woman. Janeway was perfectly capable of sacrificing herself in an effort to end this sort of thing once and for all. "Admiral, you are not to sacrifice yourself for this. I've given instructions to the Borg in your engine room to install a coil I'm beaming over. In case this doesn't work, I'm going to use my own ship to destroy the Unicomplex."

She watched Janeway's responses, the widening of the eyes, the set of her jaw, the clenching of fists. Yes, Kathryn was very angry now. She cut off the petite woman's response, "These are my people, Admiral. If they are to be destroyed, I will be the one to do it." There was real regret in her tone as she sent the necessary instructions to the various work groups, beaming a mass of drones onto the little ship, who immediately began installing the transwarp coil. It was one of the new ones, capable of intense transwarp, able to generate a corridor every bit as big as the one the cube could.

Janeway's eyes glittered as a wry smile pulled her lips to the side, "I suppose I can't talk you out of it, huh? Well, here's hoping it doesn't come to that."

Erin nodded. She didn't want to loose her daughter again after only regaining contact with her so recently. She paused for a millisecond, considering the tale she had listened to of how Annika had returned from the future to rescue Janeway from her predecessor-Queen. The love between the two women was as apparent as it was between Seven and the half-Klingon. She knew the reason for it as well, the captain's responses showing that she mirrored the ex-Drone's love and devotion. The pair would literally die for each other if needed.

She just hoped she didn't need to ask for one of them to do so.

* * *

The Queen snarled in rage. Everything was going wrong. First, Her cubes were being stolen from Her. That was to be expected, the rogue Borg had been a real thorn in Her side recently. But now, they had allied themselves with the Federation! Those upstarts were beneath contempt, but they had so far repulsed Her attempts to assimilate them. She gritted Her teeth as She glared at the schematic of the Unicomplex. And now, the two insects had dared to enter Her own system! Not only that, but the miserable pathetic ones were actually WINNING! She snarled again, ordering Tactical Cube 78326 to switch from the rebel Cube that had arrived with the federation fleet to Voyager. That one was particularly annoying, have first allied itself with Her to drive Species 8472 back into Fluidic Space, then proceeded to escape Her clutches and out of Her space without being assimilated! Unacceptable. They would all become Hers.

She'll show them a Queen's wrath.

* * *

Voyager angled to slip around the Galaxy-class ship that was absorbing fire from the Tactical Cube that had begun sending salvo after salvo at the small ship. Janeway gripped the armrests of her command chair, looking at once imperious and aloof as she snapped out orders to her crew. Tom grinned to himself as he slipped the ship across the underside of the Tactical Cube, well-placed shots from Valkyrie disabling the torpedo launchers on this face of the cube as the ship slid under it. On the far side, space was relatively clear, save for the massive wave of Cubes heading in their direction.

"Transphasic pulse armed, Admiral."

"Hold fire until as many of them as we can get are in range. Voyager to Valkyrie, let them get close."

"Captain?"

"You heard me, Annika. We want to convert as many as we can with one shot."

"Understood."

The tiny black-and-green figure darted back to hover protectively over the center of the little ship, sapphire lances of power picking off the barrage of torpedoes with uncanny precision. Starwind darted under the little ship as the Cubes began to close in around Voyager, making the pair of suited figures hard-pressed to keep up with the fire. Kathryn gripped her chair tighter, wishing she had some sort of restraint system to keep her in her chair as the ship bucked under the incoming fire. Tuvok monitored the cubes and touched the firing pad calmly as he noted the exact moment when the most cubes would be in range of the ship's only offensive or defensive weapon.

The golden shock-wave blasted out in all directions, washing harmlessly over Valkyrie and Starwind, but impacting with spectacular results on all the cubes in the area, causing them to all shut down simultaneously as the massive energy-wave overloaded their shields and power generators. "Twenty-seven cubes neutralized, Admiral."

"Good, Tom, get us out of here before they crash into us."

The helmsman nodded, arrowing the ship between two cubes drifting towards each other, only just squeaking past as Valkyrie followed. Starwind didn't bother missing the ships, her enhanced impulse drive and massive defenses allowing her to simply smash through the corner of a cube and continue as if nothing had happened.

They were getting nearer the Complex.

* * *

Erin gnawed her lower lip, watching the battle lines on her schematic. She glanced over and nodded her thanks to Kvim'ti, a Xarillian from a globular cluster to the galactic north. He and she had escaped together from her original cube when she awoke as the Queen. A kind man, he had supported her as Magnus never had, understanding her thoughts so intimately as he did. There was very little physiologically different between humans and Xarillians, yet another instance of convergent evolution, save that Xarillians had a deeply empathic nature and the fact that they were a hermaphroditic species, both males and females having both sets of sexual characteristics. The terms 'male' and 'female' had more to do with the psyche of the individual than the 'plumbing' they all had in common.

Erin took the cup of tea Kvim'ti handed her, sipping it to calm her nerves as she watched her daughters protecting the ship that carried both of their beloveds. She sighed softly. "Kvim. Ready the Omega pods to self-destruct."

The single eye of her companion gazed sadly at the pale-skinned woman. "Is it that bad?"

Erin nodded, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She had had a new one cloned and installed when she had been 'upgraded' to Queen. "It's that or retreat. This is our best chance at destroying the Collective for once and all, we can't give it up, no matter what the cost."

Kvim'ti nodded sadly, the faceted ruby that had replaced his right eye glittering in the green light as he moved off to do his Queen's bidding. At least he could spend the few remaining minutes comforting the woman he had come to love.

* * *

Captain Jean-luc Picard stood on the bridge of the Enterprise, frowning darkly at the viewscreen. He had stood steadfast as the ship rocked around him, bouncing his crew in their seats or staggering them at their stations. The captain had had enough experience on holodeck sailing ships to know how to angle his body to absorb the changing angle of gravity, while the rest of his bridge crew tended to get thrown off balance as the ship lurched suddenly.

"Target that cube there. Fire quantum torpedoes."

He indicated a tactical cube that Voyager ducked under, the bright-blue torpedoes finding their mark and sending shards of the cube spraying in all directions. He allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction, remembering the rage he had felt when he had fought the Borg on his own ship in the past, while members of his crew had helped Zephram Cochrane rebuild his historic ship and launch it on time to initiate First Contact with the Vulcans.

Riker glanced from the viewscreen to the Captain, unsure if Picard was going to succumb to the irrational rage he had on the last occasion the formidable captain had run into the Borg.

"Full impulse, follow Voyager."

Riker relaxed slightly. Apparently Picard was not going to focus on destroying the Borg to the exclusion of all else this time.

* * *

The Queen was furious. Twenty-seven cubes lost at once! Unacceptable! She snarled her rage as she sent all the cubes left to her to crush the upstart Voyager. She sent the order to prepare her ship to leave. If the inconceivable occurred and Voyager prevailed, she would escape herself, to rebuild the Collective one drone at a time if needs be.

* * *

Annika snapped off shot after shot, blasting as many torpedoes as she could, her disruptor cannon on her forward wingtips spitting green fire as she desperately tried to keep up with the incoming fire. Then the golden glow of the transphasic pulse washed over her and the cubes surrounding Voyager flickered and dimmed, the little ship zipping between two of the drifting cubes as she quickly followed. There were no cubes left between her and the complex now! With a snarl of triumph, she darted forward, only to halt as what had seemed to be a support strut disassembled itself into a massive number of cubes, dozens at the least, all of which opened fire at the tiny ship.

Annika gulped and began firing at the torpedoes as fast as she could, clearing as many of them as possible before they could harm her Beloved Kathryn's ship.

* * *

Seven gasped at the sheer weight of fire bearing down on her BangwI's ship, darting forward, catching the first couple of torpedoes with well-aimed tractor pulses and sending them crashing into more of the torpedoes, causing chain reactions of premature detonations to ripple through the veritable wall of torpedoes like lightning through a cloud. But there were just too many of them for her to deal with.

* * *

Erin drew in her breath in shock and sent her Cube hurtling across the battle arena, leaving the half-repaired ships behind her as she disengaged the tractor-beams, sending her own ship in between Voyager and the fusillade. She clenched her hands as she urged her ship to go as fast as it could, but knew the massive cube could never cover the distance involved before the fire reached the unprotected ship.

* * *

Picard's eyes darkened as he saw the predicament Janeway had gotten herself into. Without a thought, he ordered his helmsman to take the Sovereign-Class flagship in between the avalanche of fire and the tiny starship. With shields at maximum, they could last significantly longer than the tiny ship could, what with all of its defenses having been removed to make room for the transphasic pulse generators.

The Enterprise-E rocked as the torpedoes began impacting its shields, the mighty starship's captain prudently taking a seat as the barrage shook his ship. a momentary shadow passed over Voyager and Lt Commander Data spoke with surprise and relief coloring his tone, "It is the Challenger!"

The massive form of the Galaxy-class starship slid impressively across its larger sister, the gleaming-silver armor covering every last millimeter of her hull absorbing the incoming fire as the ship angled itself to offer the greatest surface area it could to the incoming fusillade. The Enterprise-E turned ponderously, lining up in the 'shadow' thus formed by the Challenger, Voyager nestled up near the huge ship's side, like a kitten with its mother. Both starships locked onto the Challenger with tractor-beams, using their comrade as a shield as they advanced into the fire.

* * *

The Voyager viewscreen flickered to an image of Erin Hansen as Admiral Kathryn Janeway accepted the incoming hail from the Borg Republic leader.

"Kathryn, I must inform you that the situation is rapidly deteriorating. We must consider the option we discussed."

Janeway gritted her teeth. She knew just how much having her mother back had affected Seven, having watched the normally-restrained woman hug and kiss her diminutive mother uncontrollably when the pair were reunited. "Unacceptable. Find another way."

Erin sighed. "There is no other way. I've run through every scenario I can think of, and this is the only method I have found to ensure the Collective's destruction."

Janeway opened her mouth to retort, but the woman raised an armor-clad hand to forestall her. "I'm truly sorry to not have the opportunity to get to know you, Kathryn. But I know Annika will take good care of you."

With that, the transmission was cut off and the Borg Republic cube shot off towards the Unicomplex.

With a snarl, Janeway almost pounced on her helmsman. "Follow that cube, Tom!"

"Aye ma'am!" The boyishly handsome pilot gulped as he urged the little ship to its maximum speed, following in the wake of the cube.

* * *

The Queen stared, a slow smile spreading over her face. So. The pretender-Queen had come to her, after all. How ironic. After months of searching every last corner of the galaxy, the pretender had come to her at last. The Queen could almost taste victory.

* * *

Annika stared at the cube in shock for a second before angling forward and sending herself winging after the cube. She'd be damned if she let her mother commit suicide to end this!

* * *

Seven was in shock. Her mother was going to sacrifice herself to end this conflict? Unacceptable! She had only just found her mother again, she was not going to let her get away that easily!

With a massive flare of her suit's rear wing edges, she hurtled after the cube at near-warp speeds.

* * *

Erin Hansen smiled at Kvim'ti as the Xarillian returned, the two Borg standing close to each other as they watched the flotilla of cubes begin to concentrate their fire on the Republic craft. Erin's left hand stole into the still-organic right of her confidante's. "Are the power cores rigged?"

The Xarillian nodded. "Yes, my Queen."

Erin smiled fondly at the slightly-taller alien. "Thank you my friend. There's just one last thing I have to tell you."

Kvim'ti smiled and shook his head. "My Queen, I know your thoughts. I share them."

Erin caught her breath. She had purposefully avoided contacting the alien's mind ever since she had organized the rebellion. That Kvim shared her feelings. She gently pulled the slightly-taller Borg against her, hugging close as the cube hurtled at breakneck speed across the system.

On a collision course with the Unicomplex.

* * *

Starwind caught up with the Republic cube first, hailing it with no effect. Seven actually darted in front of it and attempted to push it back with her hands on superstructure support struts, her massive impulse drive having no effect on the cube's path as she screamed at her mother not to do this. Annika in Valkyrie arrived shortly thereafter and pried Starwind off the Cube as it blew through the line of Cubes that had formed a support strut in the Complex. Voyager followed a second later, a massive transphasic pulse disabling the cubes as it rocketed after the Cube containing the hopes and dreams of the new Borg Republic.

Janeway gripped her armrests so hard she was sure she was leaving dents in the duranium. "Janeway to the fleet, all ships withdraw! There will be an Omega detonation within the minute! all ships, withdraw as fast as you can! Those still able to warp, tractor those who can't. Leave no one behind!"

Just as Valkyrie managed to get Starwind out from in front of the Cube, Voyager arrived in transporter range. Working with a brilliance she had never shown before, B'Elanna locked onto as much of the Borg crew of the ship as she could, transporting them onto the hull of Voyager when she ran out of space inside the ship. Even as she was doing this, Tom Paris was arcing the little ship out of the system, pouring on all possible speed and even kicking in the aft thrusters, despite the miniscule thrust this generated.

Seven was incoherent, screaming into the open commlink as she watched her mother's cube impact the Unicomplex. A primal scream of loss and terror reverberated across subspace as Valkyrie shot out of the area, following Voyager towards the remnants of the fleet. Nearly all the Cubes in the area had been liberated and those still able were forming transwarp conduits out of the Unicomplex system, the rest jumping to warp as soon as they cleared the debris from the numerous ships and cubes that had been destroyed.

Voyager shot through the fleet like a bat out of hell as a monstrous blue fireball erupted in the Unicomplex. Blue fire ran along the support pylons and among the many complexes that formed the conglomerate of Borg technology that served as its brain. Voyager glowed brilliantly green as the Enterprise, the Sovereign, and the Liberty formed a massive tetrahedron with Voyager surrounding the Federation fleet, the four ships forming and entering a massive, high-gradient transwarp corridor. As the tiny ship entered the corridor, numerous Borg were swept off the hull, the rest securing themselves by clamping their Borg-enhanced limbs to the ship's hull. A few of the ones swept off were transported back into ships, many of which were towing those ships unable to propel themselves yet which still had crews.

As the massive blast wave of the Omega chain reaction reached out its long arm to engulf the system, Annika and Seven accelerated hard into the transwarp corridor just before it closed, catching a part of the shock-wave with them as they strained their engines to the limit, the shock-wave slowly catching up with the rest of the fleet as the two starsuits threw their throttles open all the way.

* * *

Admiral Necheyev aboard the USS Gorkon snapped her head up at the notification that a transwarp conduit was approaching. "How big?"

"Massive, Sir, as if a dozen cubes were riding it at once." The Lieutenant at Ops frowned. "There's a very odd and powerful energy signature in the corridor with them, Sir. I can't get a reading on it."

At that moment, the green swirl of a Borg transwarp corridor opened before the Admiral's ship, angled to the side. Voyager exited, her nacelles glowing brighter than any Federation ship had a right to glow, traveling in speeds that put even racing starships to shame as it shot out of the corridor. The rest of the fleet exited quickly as well, peeling off to the sides, several ships being towed by their comrades as they shot clear. The ponderous forms of the Sovereign-Class vessels emerged, followed closely by two tiny pinpricks of blue-white light that had to be the two starsuits.

As the admiral opened her mouth to hail Voyager, a massive blue-white shock-wave shot out of the corridor. It was a pancake-like wave of energy, self-reinforcing as it traveled down the corridor, but dissipating now as it exited into normal space, looking for all the worlds like the muzzle flash of God's own gun. The admiral realized she was staring with her mouth open and jerked herself out of her reverie just as Voyager hailed them. She nodded for her comm officer to accept and started very slightly as she saw the haggard expression on Janeway's face.

"What happened, Kathryn?" she snapped.

For a long moment, Janeway didn't reply. But when she did, the tone of her voice almost broke Necheyev's heart. "We won. But Erin had to sacrifice herself to do it."

The hawk-featured admiral considered. She knew that Janeway was involved with that time-traveling ex-Borg, who had been the daughter of Erin Hansen, the Borg Republic Queen. She winced internally, realizing just what it must have meant to have to run for your life while your one of love's family sacrifices herself. "I'm....truly sorry for your loss, Kathryn." She straightened a bit and jutted her chin out at the morose newly-minted admiral. "On the other hand, I have some good news for you. Congratulations, Katie. You're a galactic hero."

Janeway blinked at Necheyev as the older admiral snapped a salute at the younger. Then the auburn-haired woman realized that the entire bridge crew of the Admiral's ship was celebrating, pounding each other on the back, some sitting silently with tears streaming down their cheeks, unable to keep their emotions in check. Janeway turned slightly, realizing that a minor pandemonium had erupted on her own bridge when Tom turned around, stood up and gave his commanding officer a salute every bit as formal as the admiral's, tears making his eyes glitter as he spoke with suppressed emotion. "Admiral Janeway, I think I speak for everyone here when I say.... I'm privileged to have had the best damn Starfleet officer in the galaxy."

Janeway smiled slightly as chaos renewed itself with greater intensity around her, slowly pulling herself out of the black pit of despair she had been teetering on the brink of.

She just wondered how Annika would take it.

* * *

AN: WOW! what a ride! I wrote almost all of that in the course of a two hour inspired streak, listening to Nightwish on shuffle/repeat. ^^; I tend to draw inspiration from music, and I found the perfect battle theme in "Planet Hell" for this chapter. Only the epiloge left! in your reviews, you can indicate which would be more ideal: if Erin lived or died. so please, READ AND REVIEW!


	13. Chapter 13 : Unification

Valkyrie

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2008 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PS: I'm AUing the time period on a few events in the Voyager timeline. Specifically, I'm moving the events of Omega Directive to after Dark Frontier. After that, the fic diverges completely from the Voyager series, so be warned!

PPS: This is the epilogue, but I'm intending to write a short sequel. ^.~ any ideas / suggestions / comments on the possible sequel are very much appreciated!

* * *

Admiral Kathryn Janeway sat at her ready room desk for the last time. She let out a soft sigh as she looked around the room she had spent so much time in, smiling a bit at the knickknacks she had collected over the five years in the Delta Quadrant. The holoimage on the desktop she activate, showing Kathryn and Annika, smiling as they christened the transwarp coil assembly designed to allow Voyager to quickly utilize any transwarp coil they ran across. With a gentle motion, she caressed the edge of the desk, feeling the depression formed where Annika had gripped the edge hard during one of Kathryn's more...inspired moments in this room.

Rising, the auburn-haired woman moved over and gazed out the readyroom window at the Golden Gate bridge. Rebuilt after the Dominion War, it was slightly different than she remembered it from her time at the academy. Janeway sipped at the lucky cup she held, feeling at once both elated and sad. Yes, she had gotten her ship and crew home after five years trapped on the far side of the galaxy, but she felt a loss. She had so many good memories on this ship, it felt as if she were loosing a part of herself having to give it up.

With a gentle sigh, she turned and left her ready room.

* * *

Lt Commander B'Elanna Torres stood in Voyager's engine room. For five years, this had been her domain. Now, the Starfleet refit crews were standing waiting for her to give them the go ahead to begin stripping down the warp core. Dr Leah Brahms had contacted Torres, asking her to go over the upgrades that Voyager had been subjected to over the years, from the jury-rigged repairs to the massively damaged ship just over five years ago to the upgrades performed by the Borg Republic to allow Voyager to carry the transwarp assembly that let the fleet escape from the Unicomplex.

B'Elanna ran a hand over the control panel next to the reactor shaft, then ducked under the railing to run a hand down the shaft. She had spent so much time, effort and blood on making this warp core work, she felt as if it were her own child. Moving out again, she wandered slowly around the engine room, touching control panels and slowly shutting down the systems for the last time. One by one, the screens slowly went dark, the lights shutting down, until only the blue glow from the warp core itself lit the room. Basking in it's glow for the final time, B'Elanna spoke with a choked voice.

"Computer. Shut down the warp core."

The almost subliminal hum that had accompanied Voyager throughout her five year trek slowly died away. B'Elanna sniffed once, knowing it wasn't the warrior's way to mourn the loss of a ship. But Voyager had been more than a ship or a home to the half-Klingon, it had been a good friend too.

With an abrupt motion, she turned and left.

* * *

Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 01, stood in Astrometrics. Tears slowly flowed down her face as she flicked the Astrometrics viewscreen through the course Voyager had taken through the Delta Quadrant. Normally, the unemotional ex-Drone wouldn't have felt so distraught, but an allergic reaction to one of Neelix's attempts at cooking had hyper-stimulated her immune system to the point where only an extreme procedure had saved her life. However, the effects of the procedure had substantially changed her Borg implants, reformatting them into a configuration that rendered her immune to assimilation. But it also removed her nanoprobes' ability to limit her emotions.

Now, standing in the mostly-darkened Astrometrics center, Seven cried softly. She had spent only two years on this ship, but in that short time it had become more than just a home to her. It had been where she met Captain Janeway, who had become something of a mother to the ex-Borg. She met Tuvok here, who had been a father-figure to her, helping her to understand how the human mind worked. And it was where she had met B'Elanna. Bang'wI. Beloved.

Tears ran down her chin as she sniffled softly, slowly caressing the control panels. Seven did not wish to leave. She had spent so much time here, it was the only home she had ever known. The unknown world outside this ship terrified her, but she knew Bang'wI would do her best to help her.

With a final tap, she spoke in a soft, husky voice. "Computer, deactivate the Astrometrics Lab."

The viewscreen flickered, faded, and died. The control panels went dark, and the ex-drone was left in darkness. A soft sob echoed in the dark room.

* * *

Annika stood in the shuttlebay, watching a group of Voyager engineers detach the starsuit alcoves from Voyager's hull. Although she remembered how much Seven had been attached to this ship, she felt no such attachment. Instead, she felt far more attached to the people on board than she did for the ship itself. It was a ship, a construct. A place to return to in time of need, but no more. Light gleamed off the woman's metal implants, a swirling curlicue over her left eye and a similar swirl over the right hinge of her jaw and down her jawline marking her as more than just another ex-Borg.

Her thoughts ranged to those in the crew she felt closest to. Admiral Janeway immediately sprung to mind, and Annika had to clamp down to avoid smiling softly. Kathryn, her beloved. She had born witness to thirty years of torture of the woman, half-assimilated by the Queen and forced to watch every time she regenerated as the Queen alternated between forcing the woman Annika loved to do the most degrading things she could think of and flaying her almost to ribbons. Muscles rippled along Annika's jaw as she pushed that thought firmly away. She had born witness yes, but she had use the rage she felt to perfect the starsuit design, along with a method of creating a temporary artificial wormhole back to the Delta Quadrant to retrieve the woman she loved from the Collective. Or to die in the attempt. An accident with the wormhole's ending coordinates had almost destroyed Annika when she exited, but also threw her over thirty years in the past, to a time when both her beloved and her past self were in the Unicomplex.

A clank and hiss indicated that the specialized alcove had been detached. Annika stepped forward and lifted the alcove, weighing a few hundred kilos, while the engineering crew slid a float pallet under it. Some of the engineers had begun detaching the other alcove from the opposite bulkhead. That one housed the pieces of Starwind, Seven's suit. Together, the armored, warp-capable integrated armor suits had defended Voyager during the last battle in the Unicomplex itself.

Annika sighed softly, thinking of Seven and B'Elanna. She herself had once harbored feelings for the half-Klingon, but a deeper look had reaffirmed her faith that it was truly Kathryn that she loved. She supposed that if she had been in Seven's place, she might have wound up in love with the feisty engineer, despite their originally rocky start.

The repair crew had the second alcove detached by this point, and Annika assisted in lifting it onto the float pallet, the crew pushing both massive alcoves into the Delta Flyer's cargo hold, to be transfered to Starfleet Headquarters.

Annika was riding with them.

* * *

Three weeks later.

Seven shifted nervously as Annika brushed out her hair and replaced the veil. "Relax, Seven. Treat it as one of your lessons with the Doctor."

"I can't, Annika.... It's my wedding...."

"I know, but if you don't calm down, you're going to faint at the alter."

Seven sighed and took a breath, triggering the ritual thoughts that would calm her emotions. Tuvok adjusted his dress whites a bit as he glanced out at the crowded hall. "We must proceed soon."

Annika nodded, adjusting the dress her younger self was wearing. Seven looked dazzling. The silver dress cascaded down her lovely, 6-foot form, flowing with every change of position as the young woman shifted, until it looked as if it should have burbled. Her face was obscured by a feather-light veil, the long, long train trailing softly over the ground as the music swelled. Tuvok offered her arm to the young woman and Seven placed her left hand on his forearm as the music reached it's crescendo. The doors swung open and the processional began.

Seven's Bridesmaids, including Annika and the Delaney twins, were first. Next came Naomi Wildman, carrying the rings. Finally Tuvok and Seven, her train following behind. The blood-red short dress Seven and B'Elanna had finally agreed on shown in the sunlight as everyone turned to gaze back at the bride. Seven flushed. Now she understood the reason for the veil, to prevent the bride from suffering terminal embarrassment on her way to the alter. The look on Bang'wI's face, though.... She'd never seen B'Elanna's eyes get that big before.

The compact half-Klingon stood poised, collected, and with her mouth slightly open as she stared at the vision of silver and gold that slowly swept up the isle. Tuvok released Seven's arm as they reached the alter, taking his seat. Janeway stood close by B'Elanna's elbow, ready to support the petite woman. Annika stood ready to support Seven as well. The Doctor's holoimager flashed silently from the back of the hall as the two women turned to face each other. Admirals Paris and Necheyev stood behind the alter, along with an older Klingon woman, whom Seven had been told was B'Elanna's mother. Seven shivered at the way the elderly woman was looking at her, as if sizing her up.

B'Elanna almost fell forward as Janeway gave her a very gentle push. The two women stepped closer, B'Elanna licked her lips and spoke. "Two years ago, I met a woman who would shortly become the bane of my existence. I spent more time being angered by her actions than anyone else on board Voyager. She seemed to take a positive delight in making me angry, provoking me at every opportunity."

She paused and raised her right hand to Seven's face under the veil, pushing back the gauzy material. "Then I saw through the facade. She wasn't arrogant or aloof or uncaring, she was alone and frightened. And I could no longer hate her for being Borg. She had stolen my heart away, but I found myself giving it to her willingly. Now, Seven of Nine, will you be my wife from here until Eternity's end?"

Seven inhaled softly. "When I arrived on Voyager, I was alone and terrified. I didn't know what was expected of me, or how to find out what I needed to know to survive. Janeway helped set me on the proper path, but I found myself learning more about how to be an individual from another person. I spent much time in her presence, deliberately provoking her anger in an attempt to understand her motives."

She caressed B'Elanna's cheek with her right hand. "Then she changed. Instead of trying to push me away, she drew me closer. I felt the fire of her passions and didn't know what to do. Until I realized I echoed them. Now, I cannot exist without her fire in my life. B'Elanna Torres, will you be my wife from here until Eternity's end?"

Both women stared into each other's eyes for a full five seconds before whispering a single word in unison. "Yes."

As the crowd around them surged to their feet, clapping and crying, the two women embraced tightly and kissed.

* * *

The wedding reception was off to a rousing start. B'Elanna's mother had brought a number of her Klingon relatives with her, and they had brought a couple casks of aged bloodwine. Tom Paris was over with them, surprisingly, and regaling them with an account of a battle he had brought Voyager through, to judge from the way the Klingons were grinning and slapping him on the back. Seven smiled a bit as she watched B'Elanna picking up some food for her and her new wife at the buffet.

"So. You're the one."

Seven turned to gaze at the Klingon behind her. About her height, perhaps a bit taller, his lean form belied the muscular bulk of him. She'd seen him with the wedding group, but hadn't seen him since. "I am extremely fortunate. May I ask your name, sir?"

"Krath. B'Elanna's Mother is my mother's sister."

Seven nodded slightly. "That would make you cousins."

"Yes."

Seven didn't like the way he was gazing at her, appraising and condescending at the same time. "I am glad to make your acquaintance."

Krath leaned forward slightly, his voice lowered. "You are not worthy of being of our house. Leave while you still can."

He moved off, but not before B'Elanna had noticed him talking to Seven. "Who was that. Seven? What's wrong?"

The young ex-Borg was quaking in rage. He DARED to say she was unworthy of being Bang'wI's mate? She'd show him. B'Elanna tried to restrain her wife as Seven stalked after Krath, catching up to him in the middle of the room. The young Klingon's eyes widened as Seven spun him around effortlessly. Her ice-blue eyes flashed fire as she glared at him, not bothering to keep her voice down. "Who are you to say I am not worthy of my mate?"

A deadly hush settled over the room, Tom and the other Klingon men staring at the altercation. A space cleared around the trio, Seven and now B'Elanna too glaring at the Klingon. Krath glanced over Seven's shoulder, and the Borg flicked a glance over at B'Elanna's mother. So, that was it, was it.

"You are not welcome here. Leave, now." Seven was rather proud that she kept all trace of her rage out of her voice, though her implant-enhanced hand ground subtly.

The young Klingon smiled condescendingly at the Borg, "But I have not yet tasted your wine."

The next few movements were hard to follow, but the young man was suddenly flying across the room, and Seven was crouched in a fighting posture, the front of her dress dislodged slightly, as if the young man had gripped her there. B'Elanna's howl of rage sent the less-courageous members of the party scurrying for the exits. From the way Tom was murmuring to the Klingons, it looked as if he was placing bets.

"YOU DARE! YOU DARE TOUCH MY WIFE!" The feisty half-Klingon launched herself on the young man, who collapsed under her weight. With a roar, he threw her off, and she was about to retaliate when Seven snapped out at her. "jIH DOQ... batlh!" B'Elanna hesitated, recognizing the Klingon words, "I claim the honor."

The Klingon's eyes narrowed as he stood again, regarding the woman in the silky silver dress, which ran down to her ankles. He grinned slightly, then laughed. His laugh was cut off with a gasp as Seven's fist powered into his chest. The unmistakable sound of cracking bone filled the air and everyone winced. Tom grinned up at his new friends. The young man slumped to his knees, gazing up in shock at Seven. She murmured softly at him, "Didn't you remember? I am Borg. Resistance is futile." With that, he slumped on his side and the Doctor finally managed to push through the ring, gathering up the slumped and wheezing man and vanishing in a familiar transporter sparkle.

People hesitated a moment longer, then a hearty laugh urged the party back into full stream. Seven was panting slightly as B'Elanna wrapped an arm possessively around her waist. a hesitant tap on Seven's shoulder brought her whipping around face to face with the elderly woman. Both parties paused a moment, the woman gazing harshly into Seven's eyes before nodding approvingly. "Yes, you'd make a fine mate for my daughter." She grinned. "Now, what was that move you pulled on Krath? I haven't seen him tossed so far in a decade!"

B'Elanna smiled in relief. It seemed as if the excitement was passed them now.

* * *

Janeway sighed, relaxing on the couch, her head in Annika's lap. She smiled up at her betrothed, who smiled back, stroking the admiral's auburn hair. Janeway murmured, "For a minute there, I thought he was going to pull a knife and I'd have to intervene."

Annika shook her head. "I think he was encouraged to antagonize Seven. Did you see Seven, B'Elanna and Miral talking afterwards? I have a feeling Krath was sent to test Seven and B'Elanna's commitment."

Kathryn thought about it a bit and nodded. "That makes sense." She nuzzled against Annika's belly, feeling the odd contrast of soft skin and hard metal as she rubs her cheek against the curl of metal marking where Annika's abdominal implant once rested. Annika arched back in the couch, smiling a bit as Kathryn reached up under Annika's shirt, stroking along the metal traceries that delineated where Annika's ribs were, following their contour up to press her hand against Annika's breastbone.

She smiled up at her lover, murmuring softly, "I can hardly wait for our own wedding."

Annika smiled down at her beloved. "As can I."

And, as usual, Fate decided to pick that moment to knock.

Janeway snarled as she got up and moved over to her desk, activating her console. The screen cleared to show a distraught Seven.

"A-admiral?" The vibrant voice of Seven brought Janeway upright. "W-We just received word...."

"What is it, Seven?" Janeway sensed rather than saw Annika take up a position just behind her.

"They..." The ex-Borg choked up for a moment. "They've found mother."

Janeway thought for a moment her heart had stopped.

"They found her in the Jefferson's cargo-hold, wedged into a corner. She's alive, but they don't know how she survived the stresses when the ship disintegrated. They have her under sedation at Starfleet Medical right now."

The young woman was babbling, clearly out of her depth. Janeway's command aura flared. "Seven, calm yourself down. I'll meet you at Startfleet Medical in ten minutes." She cut the commlink and glanced up at Annika. The older woman's hand was clenching so hard on Janeway's chair it was leaving dents in the metal. "Come on, we've got a house call to make."

Annika gazed dazedly at her for a moment, then nodded and moved to the closet as Janeway changed back into her uniform. She wriggled a bit, still not used to the new uniforms, but got it on and met Annika at the door. The ex-Borg was clad in her usual dark jeans and sweater, racing Janeway down the street towards the nearest public transporter.

* * *

Seven was seated by a biobed as Annika entered, rendering redundant the question on her lips. B'Elanna looked up at the new arrivals, tears in her eyes as Seven held the limp hand to her cheek, watching the biomonitor over the biobed. Beside the Queen's form was another chair, and on the other side was a biobed pushed very close to Erin Hansen's, containing another Borg. Annika sank down next to Seven, hesitating before gently resting a hand on younger self's shoulder. B'Elanna wrapped an arm around Seven's shoulders as Seven sobbed softly in acknowledgement of their presence. Janeway stood next to Annika as the quartet watched the biorhythm readings of this very precious drone.

Precious to all of them.

A few moments of silence passed, then Janeway frowned slightly, wondering why the other Borg was pressed so close to Erin. She hailed an orderly and posed the question.

"We found them hugging each other, Admiral. We assumed they must have had some sort of relationship, and you know how much just having the presence of someone you love nearby can help when you're injured"

Janeway nodded and sighed. "Any idea when she might wake?"

"We're keeping her sedated for now, but once we've got the results back from the lab, we can tell if it's safe to wake her. It shouldn't be more than another half hour or so."

Janeway nodded, and returned to the trio near the biobeds. fifteen minutes later, a report arrived on the doctor's commbadge, sating that the nanoprobe levels were sufficient to allow the two drones to wake.

Kathryn held her breath as they applied the hypospray of the antagonist to Erin's neck. Instantly, she stirred. her left hand groped out blindly and clasped that of the drone beside her, turning to her right as she opened her eyes, gazing at her loving daughters.

A smile crossed her face, and Kathryn thought her heart would burst. "Seven? Annika?" Erin's voice was weak, but full of life.

Seven merely hugged her tight as Annika nodded, tears running down her cheeks.

Janeway sniffed back tears herself. The family was whole once more.

* * *

AN: That's the last chapter of this fic, but don't worry, I'm planning out the events of the sequel already. Sorry for the long delay, schoolwork's been picking up and IRL commitments have been interfering with the amount of time I can spend on this. I hope to have the first chapter of the sequel up next week, but don't count on it. As always, READ AND REVIEW!


	14. Notice

Hey folks!

Not really an update to the story, just letting people know a few things.

1) I'm DONE with this story, but I will entertain suggestions for sequels.

2) If there are loose ends in the story, they're possible plot hooks for sequels, so feel free to invent your own explainations for the people in the circular room.

3) If people want to know how Lisa and the rest of Valkyrie flight faired, you have to TELL ME what you want them to do, since at this point I have NO clue what happened to them. (well, I do have a couple ideas, but they're sorta half formed and take place a good ten years down the road)

4) If you want more of this story, and are bursting with ideas as to where it should go, please, don't hesitate to PM me about them! If you're persistant and annoying enough, and if the ideas strike my fancy, I'll probably get started on a sequel to Choosers pretty soon! ATM, I'm between obsessions, so any really cool idea might get me writing again!

5) I'm more than willing to let someone else write the next story (I prefer reading to writing nine times out of ten), but please run the idea past me first? I'll be more than willing to be a muse/beta to the story!

Just wanted to post that so people would notice it! Thank you for all the reviews and favs, and I hope to please you again someday with my stories!


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